Scientists use Askap to map 1 Million galaxies in 300 hours

Within a period of three hundred hours, Australian scientists have been able to map one million new galaxies. The process was completed by using an advanced telescope that was placed in a desert in Australia. With the help of this advanced telescope, the pictures revealed two times more information about space than was revealed earlier. 

Also read: Australia Accuses China Of Free Trade Agreement Breach, Condemns Unilateral Curbs

Australian scientists hoped that this will help to uncover new information about space. According to CSIRO, this mapping of the space took just three hundred hours while the previous mapping took many years to reveal information about space. 

Also read: Australia: Dolphin Safely Returned To Sea After Getting Stuck In Rock Lagoon For Days

According to CSIRO astronomer, Dr. David McConell, with the availability of this data, scientists all over the world will be able to use the data to understand how black holes and galaxies evolve and also interact.

What is Askap?

The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (Askap) consists of 36 dish antennas that work together to take pictures of the sky. According to BBC, the system is in the remote area of Western Australia. Spread over an area of 6 km, the telescope that took the picture of the google map of the universe is located at the CSIRO’s Murchison observatory that is located 700 kilometers north of Perth. This is a precursor to a project to build the largest radio telescope in the world titled 'The Square Kilometre Array'. This will be located in Australia and South Africa. 

Also read: Sachin Tendulkar Says Rohit Sharma Should Be In Australia 'if He Meets All The Parameters'

Findings of Askap

By conducting a complete survey of the sky, the telescope covered about 83 per cent of the sky and three million galaxies in the universe. The map of the universe was completed simply by using 903 images. With the combined signals from the small dishes, the Askap telescope is very helpful in creating high-resolution pictures of the space. According to CSIRO, this can be done at a fraction of the cost of a large dish. 

Also read: Australia A Vs Indians Warmup Live Stream, Pitch And Weather Report, Match Preview

The large volumes of data are generated at a fast rate than the entire internet traffic in Australia. This is then sent to the supercomputer processing facility located in Perth for creating the images.

Also read: India Vs Australia Boxing Day Test Boosted As 30,000 Spectators Allowed At Iconic MCG

The earlier surveys needed more pictures to complete the survey. Astronomers are excited about the outcome as the depth and scale of the finding is huge. They can easily catalogue millions of galaxies and understand in depth how the universe is structured and how it has been evolving over the years.