Astronomers investigating the mysteries of black holes, pulsars, white dwarfs and dark matter are celebrating this week as the world’s largest and most powerful gamma-ray telescope (currently under construction with support from Australian manufacturing) was granted special legal status by the European Commission.
On 7 January, the Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory (CTAO), was established as a European Research Infrastructure Consortium (ERIC), which allows for the immediate start of construction of telescopes at observatory sites in the Atacama Desert (Chile) and La Palma (the Canary Islands) and ensures worldwide access to the data once observations begin in the coming years. Through membership of this consortium, Australian astronomers (coordinated by Astronomy Australia Limited) will be at the forefront of new discoveries, with an opportunity to solve some of the long-standing mysteries of the high-energy universe.
Prof Gavin Rowell, Australian CTAO Science Lead and Professor in High Energy Astrophysics from the University of Adelaide, said “with more than 60 telescopes, the CTAO is expected to provide deep insight into the nature of ‘dark matter’ – an invisible, and still hypothetical type of matter we think makes up about 85% of the mass of the Universe. Establishing the ERIC is a huge step forward for the CTAO – it will allow construction to move ahead rapidly. We now expect the observatory to start collecting data from its new Southern site in Chile within a couple of years”.
Gamma-rays are an extremely high frequency, energetic form of electromagnetic radiation, more energetic even than x-rays. With energy comes the ability to pass through dense materials and damage living tissue. Many astrophysical phenomena produce gamma-rays but fortunately we are protected from their damaging effect by the Earth’s atmosphere. The CTAO gets its name from the faint blue Cherenkov light produced by the same atmospheric interactions that protect us from gamma-rays’ destructive power.
The CTAO Australia Consortium is enabling Australian scientists to participate in the construction and commissioning of CTAO’s Small-Sized Telescopes (SSTs) with the support of Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (LIEF) collaborative grants from the Australian Research Council (ARC). Funding is also assisting with site infrastructure, the development of analysis software and design of the CTAO’s observation strategies. This lays the pathway for Australia’s uniquely placed optical and radio facilities to contribute to CTAO discoveries, especially in the exciting field of transient events from the Universe.
Construction of the Small-Scale Telescopes (SSTs) is also delivering a boost to Australian industry, with a Victorian manufacturing company designing cooling units for the telescope camera detectors. These ‘chillers’ cool the camera electronics to a low and very precise stable temperature, a vital task if the cameras are to measure accurately the faint blue Cherenkov light from the gamma-rays. Testing of prototype chillers is currently underway, with production models expected to be ordered later this year.
Australian support of CTAO ERIC has been years in the making, with Australian scientists first joining the international effort to build the observatory in 2013. The Australian CTAO group, now formalised as the CTAO Australia Consortium includes over 20 scientists from the University of Adelaide, ANU, Western Sydney University, UNSW, University of Sydney, Monash University and Curtin University.
Clearly, the future is universally bright for Australian astronomers and local industry as the world’s largest gamma-ray observatory takes another giant leap forward.
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The CTAO ERIC Members are Austria, Czech Republic, European Southern Observatory (ESO), France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Slovenia and Spain. Additionally, Switzerland is an Observer, Japan is a Strategic Partner and Australia has ‘Third Party’ status.
Australian engagement with the CTAO is supported by funding from the Australian Government via the Australian Research Council Linkage Infrastructure, Equipment and Facilities (ARC LIEF) and National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy (NCRIS) programs.
For more information regarding Australia’s role in the CTAO ERIC, please contact Astronomy Australia Limited (AAL) Director of Programs, Dr James Murray ([email protected]).
For information about CTAO Science please contact Prof Gavin Rowell, Australian CTAO Science Lead ([email protected]).
For the full CTAO press release, please see the announcement on their website.
