Science with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP)

TL;DR

ASKAP is a pioneering radio telescope that demonstrates advanced phased-array technology, enabling wide-area imaging crucial for the development of the future SKA and advancing key science goals in radio astronomy.

Contribution

This paper introduces ASKAP as a technology demonstrator with innovative phased-array feeds, enhancing wide-field imaging for SKA science.

Findings

ASKAP achieves unprecedented wide-area imaging capabilities.

ASKAP's technology demonstrates potential for SKA's future science goals.

Located in a radio-quiet site, ASKAP optimizes observational quality.

Abstract

The future of cm and m-wave astronomy lies with the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a telescope under development by a consortium of 17 countries that will be 50 times more sensitive than any existing radio facility. Most of the key science for the SKA will be addressed through large-area imaging of the Universe at frequencies from a few hundred MHz to a few GHz. The Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) is a technology demonstrator aimed in the mid-frequency range, and achieves instantaneous wide-area imaging through the development and deployment of phased-array feed systems on parabolic reflectors. The large field-of-view makes ASKAP an unprecedented synoptic telescope that will make substantial advances in SKA key science. ASKAP will be located at the Murchison Radio Observatory in inland Western Australia, one of the most radio-quiet locations on the Earth and one of two sites selected by the international community as a potential location for the SKA. In this paper, we outline the ASKAP project and summarise its headline science goals as defined by the community at large.