International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research

Short description: Astronomy research institute in Perth, Western Australia

International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR)Established| August 2009 (2009-08)

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Location| ICRAR (UWA)
2nd Floor
Ken and Julie Michael Building
University of Western Australia
7 Fairway
Crawley, Perth
Western Australia 6009
Australia

ICRAR (Curtin)
Brodie-Hall Building
Technology Park
1 Turner Avenue
Bentley, Perth
Western Australia 6102
Australia

ICRAR (UWA)

ICRAR (Curtin)

International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (Perth)

Type| Research facility
Executive director| Simon Ellingsen[1]
Chairperson| David James Skellern[2]
Employees| 150[3]
Website| ICRAR.org

The International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) is a multi-institutional astronomy research centre based in Perth, Western Australia. The centre is a joint venture between Curtin University and the University of Western Australia, with 'nodes' located at both universities. As of 2024, ICRAR has approximately 150 staff and students across both nodes.[4]

## Contents

* 1 History
* 2 Research
* 3 Management
* 4 Citizen Science
* 5 Notable discoveries
* 6 See also
* 7 References

## History

ICRAR launched in August 2009 with funding support from the State Government of Western Australia. Initially funded for five years to support Australia's bid to host the SKA telescopes, its funding was extended for an additional five year periods in 2013 (ICRAR II), 2019 (ICRAR III) and 2024 (ICRAR IV).[4]

In 2013, ICRAR became the first user of the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre, based in Kensington.[5]

## Research

Although radio astronomy features in the centre's name, its research has expanded to include optical and multi-wavelength astronomy.

Each of the centre's two university nodes specialises in different areas of astronomical research. The Curtin node specialises in extragalactic radio science, accretion physics and slow transients, the epoch of reionisation, and pulsars & other fast transients.[6] The UWA node specialises in studying galaxies in the local and distant Universe, and cosmological theory, with a particular focus on galactic and cosmological simulations.[6] The UWA node also operates a data intensive astronomy program, which researches techniques for managing and processing the large amounts of data created by current and future radio telescopes.[7]

Both nodes also operate engineering research programs, largely dedicated to the design and operation of radio telescopes and development of related spin-off technologies.[8] In particular, the timing and synchronisation system for the SKA-Mid radio telescope[9] and the power and signal distribution system for the SKA-Low radio telescope[10] were designed at developed at ICRAR's UWA and Curtin nodes, respectively.

ICRAR has also contributed to the design, technical operations and science programs of several Australian SKA precursors and prototypes, including the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), and the Aperture Array Verification Systems (AAVS1,2&3),[11][12][13] located at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory.

## Management

ICRAR is governed by a board, with representatives from the governmnent, both universities, and other stakeholders including the CSIRO. The inaugural board chair was Bernard Bowen, (February 2009 - July 2016).[14] The current chair is David Skellern, appointed March 2024.[15]

ICRAR's day-to-day operations are managed by an executive team with members across both university nodes. The founding executive director was Peter Quinn (2009-2022).[16] The current executive director is Simon Ellingsen.[17]

## Citizen Science

ICRAR has run several successful citizen science projects.

theSkyNet[18] employed Internet-connected computers owned by the general public 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. In September 2014 theSkyNet had 13573 total users, and 5198 recent users.[19] theSkyNet was powered down in 2018.[20]

AstroQuest launched in 2019, and aimed to help Australian scientists understand how galaxies grow and evolve.[21] Users inspected images of galaxies, and used paint tools to help classify light as coming from the galaxy or from other sources. As of 2021, approximately 10,000 users had classified the complete dataset of 60,000 galaxies,[22] and the project is on indefinite hold awaiting more galaxies to classify.[23]

## Notable discoveries

In 2022, an unusual slow periodic radio transient was discovered in archival data in GLEAM (GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky Murchison Widefield Array Survey), catalogued as GLEAM-XJ162759.5-523504, the astrophysical radio source had an 18 minute period with 1 minute long bursts, not matching any then known periodic variables.[24][25]

## See also

* List of astronomical societies

## References

1. ↑ "ICRAR appoints new Executive Director". ICRAR. 6 February 2024. https://www.icrar.org/new-executive-director/.
2. ↑ "ICRAR welcomes new Board Chair Dr David Skellern AO". ICRAR. 28 March 2024. https://www.icrar.org/new-board-chair-david-skellern/.
3. ↑ "About ICRAR". ICRAR. http://www.icrar.org/about/.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "About" (in en). https://www.icrar.org/about/.
5. ↑ "Pawsey powerhouse supercomputer crunches pre-SKA data torrent". http://www.news.uwa.edu.au/201307235860/research/pawsey-powerhouse-supercomputer-crunches-pre-ska-data-torrent.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Science Program" (in en). https://www.icrar.org/our-research/science-program/.
7. ↑ "Data Intensive Astronomy" (in en). https://www.icrar.org/our-research/data-intensive-astronomy/.
8. ↑ "Engineering Program" (in en). https://www.icrar.org/our-research/technology-engineering-program/.
9. ↑ "ICRAR to build the 'beating heart' of the Square Kilometre Array" (in en). 2022-11-28. https://www.icrar.org/skamids-beating-heart/.
10. ↑ "ICRAR engineers have designed 'radio-quiet' electronics to power the world's largest radio telescope." (in en). 2023-09-10. https://www.icrar.org/smartbox/.
11. ↑ Benthem, P.; Wayth, R.; Acedo, E. de Lera; Adami, K. Zarb; Alderighi, M.; Belli, C.; Bolli, P.; Booler, T. et al. (2021-10-07). "The Aperture Array Verification System 1: System overview and early commissioning results". Astronomy & Astrophysics 655: A5. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/202040086. Bibcode: 2021A&A...655A...5B.
12. ↑ Macario, Giulia; Pupillo, Giuseppe; Bernardi, Gianni; Bolli, Pietro; Ninni, Paola Di; Comoretto, Giovanni; Mattana, Andrea; Monari, Jader et al. (2021-09-24). "Characterization of the SKA1-Low prototype station Aperture Array Verification System 2". Journal of Astronomical Telescopes, Instruments, and Systems 8. doi:10.1117/1.JATIS.8.1.011014. Bibcode: 2022JATIS...8a1014M.
13. ↑ Caiazzo, M.; Labate, M. G.; Tirone, L.; Stringhetti, L.; Serylak, M.; Laing, R.; Devereux, D.; Hill, A. et al. (2024-07-14). "The Latest Aperture Array Verification System AAVS3 for the World's Largest Radio Telescope". 2024 IEEE International Symposium on Antennas and Propagation and INC/USNC-URSI Radio Science Meeting (AP-S/INC-USNC-URSI). pp. 297–298. doi:10.1109/AP-S/INC-USNC-URSI52054.2024.10685955. ISBN 979-8-3503-6990-8.
14. ↑ "Our Board". ICRAR. http://www.icrar.org/about/board.
15. ↑ "Dr David Skellern AO appointed as chair of ICRAR board" (in en). 2024-03-28. https://www.icrar.org/new-board-chair-david-skellern/.
16. ↑ Rowles, Cass (2022-07-22). "Professor Peter Quinn takes on a new role at UWA" (in en). https://www.icrar.org/farewell-pq/.
17. ↑ "Executive Team". ICRAR. http://www.icrar.org/about/executive.
18. ↑ "theSkyNet POGS - the PS1 Optical Galaxy Survey". http://pogs.theskynet.org/pogs/.
19. ↑ "Project status". http://pogs.theskynet.org/pogs/server_status.php.
20. ↑ "theSkyNet thankyou". http://www.theskynet.org/index.html.
21. ↑ "AstroQuest". https://astroquest.net.au/.
22. ↑ "Astroquest" (in en). 2021-09-03. https://www.icrar.org/case-studies/astroquest/.
23. ↑ "Thank you for being part of AstroQuest" (in en). 2021-09-07. https://www.icrar.org/astroquest-thankyou/.
24. ↑ ICRAR (27 January 2022). "Mysterious Object Unlike Anything Astronomers Have Seen Before". International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research. https://www.icrar.org/repeating-transient/.
25. ↑ Hurley-Walker, N.; Zhang, X.; Bahramian, A.; McSweeney, S. J.; O'Doherty, T. N.; Hancock, P. J.; Morgan, J. S.; Anderson, G. E. et al. (2022-01-26). "A radio transient with unusually slow periodic emission" (in en). Nature 601 (7894): 526–530. doi:10.1038/s41586-021-04272-x. ISSN 1476-4687. PMID 35082416. Bibcode: 2022Natur.601..526H. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04272-x.

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