Latest news with #CRACO
Yahoo
08-02-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
New fast radio burst detector could sift through 'a whole beach of sand' to solve big cosmic mystery
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. Researchers have successfully tested a new technology that detects fast radio bursts in the night sky faster than ever before, uncovering a treasure trove of data to help astronomers investigate the source of these mysterious space phenomena. Developed by astronomers and engineers at Australia's national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), the new system — known as the Commensal Realtime ASKAP Fast Transient Coherent, or CRACO — was designed to rapidly detect fast radio bursts (FRBs) and other transient phenomena using CSIRO's ASKAP radio telescope in Western Australia. FRBs are sporadic, intense flashes of radio wave energy that can be brighter than entire galaxies. In just thousandths of a second, an FRB can emit as much energy as the sun does over three days, typically at a radio frequency of about 1,400 hertz. Given their unpredictable nature as well as how fast they can come and go, gathering data on FRBs can be difficult, making them one of astronomy's more exciting mysteries. This data gap is what a team, led by Andy Wang from Curtin University's node of the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), set out to solve. Remarkably, in the system's first test, Wang found more objects than he'd anticipated, including two FRBs, a couple of sporadically emitting standard neutron stars, and better data for four known pulsars. The latter helped refine the locations of these pulsars, which are spinning neutron stars. Since that first test, additional searches have found more than 20 FRBs. "We were focused on finding fast radio bursts, a mysterious phenomenon that has opened up a new field of research in astronomy," Dr. Wang said in an ICRAR statement. "CRACO is enabling us to find these bursts better than ever before. We have been searching for bursts 100 times per second and in the future we expect this will increase to 1,000 times per second." Keith Bannister, a CSIRO astronomer and engineer who led the team that built CRACO, likened its capabilities to "sifting through a whole beach of sand to look for a single five-cent coin every minute." The system processes about 100 billion pixels per second, scanning ASKAP's "live" view of the sky in search of fleeting cosmic signals. Located at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory on Wajarri Yamaji Country, the ASKAP radio telescope is already a major radio astronomy facility for international scientists, so CRACO's integration into ASKAP is expected to broaden the observatory's scientific impact worldwide. Related Stories: — Astronomers have pinpointed the origin of mysterious repeating radio bursts from space — Where do fast radio bursts come from? Astronomers tie mysterious eruptions to massive galaxies — Mysterious fast radio bursts could be caused by asteroids slamming into dead stars "Once at full capacity, CRACO will be a game changer for international astronomy," Wang said. "We're also detecting long-period transients, which remain mysterious objects within our galaxy. Both fast radio bursts and these transients were first discovered in Australia, so it is great that we're continuing the path of discovery with this impressive technology." As part of CSIRO's Australia Telescope National Facility, CRACO will soon be available to astronomers around the globe, enabling rapid identification of transient celestial signals and paving the way for further discoveries in the cosmos. The first batch of findings was published this week in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia.
Associated Press
27-01-2025
- Science
- Associated Press
Australian innovation ‘sifts' space for mysteries
The first trial of an Australian-developed technology has detected mysterious objects by sifting through signals from space like sand on a beach. PERTH, AUSTRALIA, January 28, 2025 / / -- The first trial of an Australian-developed technology has detected mysterious objects by sifting through signals from space like sand on a beach. Astronomers and engineers at CSIRO, Australia's national science agency, developed the specialised system, CRACO, for their ASKAP radio telescope to rapidly detect mysterious fast radio bursts and other space phenomena. The new technology has now been put to the test by researchers led by the Curtin University node of the International Centre for Radio Astronomy (ICRAR) in Western Australia. Results published today in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia present the discovery of two fast radio bursts and two sporadically-emitting neutron stars, and improved location data of four pulsars, enabled by the new technology. They have since gone on to find more than twenty fast radio bursts. Dr Andy Wang from ICRAR, who led the research group and tested CRACO, said the team had found more astronomical objects than expected. 'We were focused on finding fast radio bursts, a mysterious phenomenon that has opened up a new field of research in astronomy. 'CRACO is enabling us to find these bursts better than ever before. We have been searching for bursts 100 times per second and in the future we expect this will increase to 1,000 times per second,' Dr Wang said. CSIRO astronomer and engineer Dr Keith Bannister who, along with his team, developed the instrument, says the scale of observation enabled by the new technology is enormous. 'CRACO taps into ASKAP's 'live' view of the sky in search of fast radio bursts. 'To do this, it scans through huge volumes of data – processing 100 billion pixels per second – to detect and identify the location of bursts. 'That's the equivalent of sifting through a whole beach of sand to look for a single five-cent coin every minute,' Dr Bannister said. CRACO is made up of a cluster of computers and accelerators connected to the ASKAP radio telescope at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory on Wajarri Yamaji Country. Development of this technology reinforces Australia's international reputation as a leader in radio astronomy engineering and research. 'Once at full capacity, CRACO will be a game changer for international astronomy,' Dr Wang said. CRACO has been engineered to sift through the trillions of pixels received by the telescope to find anomalies, alerting researchers the moment it spots something out of the ordinary, allowing them to quickly follow up to obtain more data and complete their own analysis. Dr Wang and his team increasingly expanded CRACO's research targets to find more exotic sources. 'We're also detecting long-period transients, which remain mysterious objects within our galaxy. Both fast radio bursts and these transients were first discovered in Australia, so it is great that we're continuing the path of discovery with this impressive technology,' Dr Wang said. CRACO will soon be made available to astronomers all over the world as part of CSIRO's Australia Telescope National Facility, a suite of national research infrastructure which includes Murriyang, CSIRO's Parkes radio telescope. The CRACO system was developed through collaboration between CSIRO and Australian and international researchers and was partially funded through an Australian Research Council grant. Charlene D'Monte +61 468 579 311 X LinkedIn Instagram YouTube Other Legal Disclaimer:
