The Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) is a
radio telescope
A radio telescope is a specialized antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the radio frequency ...
operated by
CSIRO
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is an Australian Government
The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government, is the national government of Australia, a federal parliamentar ...
at the
Paul Wild Observatory
The Paul Wild Observatory, also known as the Narrabri Observatory and Culgoora Observatory, is an astronomical research facility located about 24 km west of Narrabri, New South Wales, Australia. It is the home of the Australia Telescope Compa ...
, twenty five kilometres (16 mi) west of the town of
Narrabri
Narrabri ( ) is a locality and seat of Narrabri Shire local government area in the North West Slopes, New South Wales, Australia on the Namoi River, northwest of Sydney. It sits on the junction of the Kamilaroi Highway and the Newell Highway. At ...
in New South Wales, Australia.
Its opening ceremony took place on September 2, 1988.
Overview
The telescope is an array of six identical diameter dishes, which commonly operate in
aperture synthesis
Aperture synthesis or synthesis imaging is a type of interferometry that mixes signals from a collection of telescopes to produce images having the same angular resolution as an instrument the size of the entire collection. At each separation an ...
mode to produce
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...
images. Five of the dishes can be moved along a three-kilometre (2 mi) railway track oriented east-west. The sixth antenna is situated three kilometres west of the end of the main track. Each dish weighs about .
The Compact Array is a part of the
Australia Telescope National Facility
The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)'s radio astronomy observatories are collectively known as the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF), with the facility supporting Australia's research in radio astrono ...
network of radio telescopes. The array is frequently operated together with other CSIRO telescopes, the dish at the
Parkes Observatory
Parkes Observatory is a radio astronomy observatory, located north of the town of Parkes, New South Wales, Australia. It hosts Murriyang, the 64 m CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope also known as "The Dish", along with two smaller radio telescopes. T ...
and a single dish at
Mopra (near
Coonabarabran
Coonabarabran
is a town in Warrumbungle Shire that sits on the divide between the Central West and North West Slopes regions of New South Wales, Australia. At the 2016 census, the town had a population of 2,537, Material was copied from this s ...
), to form a
very long baseline interferometry
Very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) is a type of astronomical interferometry used in radio astronomy. In VLBI a signal from an astronomical radio source, such as a quasar, is collected at multiple radio telescopes on Earth or in space. The ...
array.
[
The Array welcomes visitors from the general public. The facility includes a Visitor's Centre where the operations of the array can be observed in comfort and shade, and it has a range of informational displays and audiovisual presentations, while the surrounding grounds have displays and activities for visitors. Open Days are run regularly, and to mark special events such as the anniversary of the first Moon landing, or major anniversaries of the telescope itself.
The children's/teen's television adventure series '']Sky Trackers
The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere of Earth, atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space.
In th ...
'' was filmed in this facility in 1993,
Space tracking
Whilst remaining a telescope predominantly dedicated to radio-astronomy,NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
track spacecraft.
Key results
Highlights of the scientific work done by the ATCA include:Magellanic Clouds
The Magellanic Clouds (''Magellanic system'' or ''Nubeculae Magellani'') are two irregular dwarf galaxies in the southern celestial hemisphere. Orbiting the Milky Way galaxy, these satellite galaxies are members of the Local Group. Because both ...
, by a factor of 20.
:1998 first evidence that gamma-ray burst
In gamma-ray astronomy, gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are immensely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the most energetic and luminous electromagnetic events since the Big Bang. Bursts can last from ten milli ...
s are linked to supernova
A supernova is a powerful and luminous explosion of a star. It has the plural form supernovae or supernovas, and is abbreviated SN or SNe. This transient astronomical event occurs during the last evolutionary stages of a massive star or when ...
e.
:2000 observations suggest that radio beams from the giant radio galaxy B0114-476 may have turned off, then restarted.
:2001 observations suggest that Abell 3667, a cluster of about 500 galaxies, was produced by two smaller clusters merging. This is the first observational evidence for this process.
:2001 (with Parkes telescope
Parkes Observatory is a radio astronomy observatory, located north of the town of Parkes, New South Wales, Australia. It hosts Murriyang, the 64 m CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope also known as "The Dish", along with two smaller radio telescopes. T ...
) the first three-dimensional structure of a face-on galaxy (the Large Magellanic Cloud).
:2002 (with Chandra X-ray space telescope) for the first time capture the entire life-cycle of jets from a microquasar, XTE J1550-564, seeing jets erupt at relativistic speeds, slow down and fade away.
:2003 show that gamma ray bursts release similar total energy, and so probably have a common origin.
:2004 first observations of a neutron star emit a jet at relativistic speed. This challenged the idea that only black holes can create the conditions needed to accelerate jets to such extreme speeds.
See also
*John Paul Wild
Dr John Paul Wild AC CBE MA ScD (Cantab.) FRS FTSE FAA (17 May 192310 May 2008) was a British-born Australian scientist. Following service in World War II as a radar officer in the Royal Navy, he became a radio astronomer in Australia for ...
, founder of the observatory
*List of radio telescopes
This is a list of radio telescopes – over one hundred – that are or have been used for radio astronomy. The list includes both single dishes and interferometric arrays. The list is sorted by region, then by name; unnamed telescopes are in r ...
*Radio Galaxy Zoo
Radio Galaxy Zoo (RGZ) is an internet crowdsourced citizen science project that seeks to locate supermassive black holes in distant galaxies. It is hosted by the web portal Zooniverse. The scientific team want to identify black hole/jet pairs an ...
References
External links
Australia Telescope Compact Array Home Page
contains links for the general public and for professional astronomers
Australia Telescope Compact Array
at CSIROpedia
ATCA Live! website
shows current observations
ATCA sky camera
shows the sky above the ATCA
{{Authority control
Radio telescopes
Interferometric telescopes
Astronomical observatories in New South Wales
Cosmic microwave background experiments
North West Slopes