Radio Transients with ASKAP
- Event Type
- Seminar/Symposium
- Sponsor
- Center for AstroPhysical Surveys
- Location
- NCSA 1040
- Virtual
- Join online
- Date
- Mar 3, 2023 12:00 - 1:00 pm
- Speaker
- Prof. David Kaplan
- Contact
- Srinivasan Raghunathan
- srinirag@illinois.edu
- Views
- 50
- Originating Calendar
- Center for AstroPhysical Surveys
The Variables and Slow Transients Survey (VAST) on the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) is designed to detect highly variable and transient radio sources on timescales from 5 s to 5 yr. We present the survey description, observation strategy and initial results from the VAST Phase I Pilot Survey. This pilot survey consists of ~162 h of observations conducted at a central frequency of 888 MHz between 2019 August and 2020 August, with a typical rms sensitivity of 0.24 mJy/beam, angular resolution of 12-20 arcseconds, and 5-13 repeats covering 5000 square degrees. An initial search of 1646 square degrees revealed 28 highly variable and/or transient sources, including known pulsars, flaring stars, active galactic nuclei, and sources with no multi-wavelength counterpart. Targeted searches including circular polarization of the Galactic Center and Magellanic Clouds further identified a Galactic Center Radio Transient and a very luminous pulsar. We discuss these findings and plans for a full 5-year survey which started in late 2022.