International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research

ICRAR @ UWA

ICRAR @ Curtin University

International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (Perth)

The International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (or ICRAR) is an international centre of excellence in astronomical science and technology, launched in 2009 as a joint venture between Curtin University and the University of Western Australia.^[1][2][3] ICRAR attracts some of the world's leading researchers in radio astronomy, contributing to Australian and international scientific and technical programs for the international Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, the world's biggest ground-based telescope array which is in its design phase and the two Australian SKA precursors, the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) and the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), both located at Murchison, Western Australia. The headquarters of ICRAR are located in Crawley, Western Australia.

Aims

The ICRAR was created to deliver world-class outcomes for science, engineering and high performance computing and to play a key role in the SKA. It seeks to:

• Create a collaborative environment for scientists and engineers to engage and work with industry to produce studies, prototypes and systems linked to the overall scientific success of the SKA, MWA and ASKAP.
• Enhance Australia's position in the international SKA program by contributing to the development process for the SKA in scientific, technological and operational areas.
• Promote scientific, technical, commercial and educational opportunities through public outreach, educational material, training students and collaborative developments with national and international educational organisations.
• Establish and maintain a pool of emerging and top-level scientists and technologists in the disciplines related to radio astronomy through appointments and training.
• Make world-class contributions to SKA science, with emphasis on the signature science themes associated with surveys for neutral hydrogen and variable (transient) radio sources.
• Make world-class contributions to SKA capability with respect to developments in the areas of Data Intensive Science and support for the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory.

Participants

The ICRAR is an equal joint venture between Curtin University and the University of Western Australia, with funding support from the State Government of Western Australia. The Centre’s headquarters are located at UWA, with research nodes at both UWA and the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy (CIRA).

Management

The ICRAR is governed by a board, chaired by Dr. Bernard Bowen, (appointed in February 2009).^[4] The Executive Director is Professor Peter Quinn.^[5]

Pawsey Supercomputing Centre

In 2013, the ICRAR became the first user of the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, based in Kensington, Western Australia.^[6]

theSkyNet

As part of its programme, the ICRAR utilised distributed computing to support its own resources. theSkyNet POGS^[7] was a public research project that employed Internet-connected computers to do research in astronomy using BOINC technology. It combined the spectral coverage of the GALEX, Pan-STARRS1, and WISE to generate a multi-wavelength (ultra-violet - optical - near infra-red) galaxy atlas for the nearby Universe. It calculates physical parameters such as star formation rate, stellar mass of the galaxy, dust attenuation, and total dust mass of a galaxy on a pixel-by-pixel basis using spectral energy distribution fitting techniques. In September 2014 theSkyNet had 13573 users with credit and 5198 users with recent credit^[8]

References

External links

• Official website