from the we're-definitely-sure-this-one-isn't-chorizo? dept.
Within 24 hours of accessing the first stage of Australia's newest supercomputing system, researchers have processed a series of radio telescope observations, including a highly detailed image of a supernova remnant.The very high data rates and the enormous data volumes from new-generation radio telescopes such as ASKAP (Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder) need highly capable software running on supercomputers. This is where the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre comes into play, with a newly launched supercomputer called Setonix – named after Western Australia's favorite animal, the quokka (Setonix brachyurus).
The very high data rates and the enormous data volumes from new-generation radio telescopes such as ASKAP (Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder) need highly capable software running on supercomputers. This is where the Pawsey Supercomputing Research Centre comes into play, with a newly launched supercomputer called Setonix – named after Western Australia's favorite animal, the quokka (Setonix brachyurus).
ASKAP, which consists of 36 dish antennas that work together as one telescope, is operated by Australia's national science agency CSIRO; the observational data it gathers are transferred via high-speed optical fibers to the Pawsey Centre for processing and converting into science-ready images.
[...] An exciting outcome of this exercise has been a fantastic image of a cosmic object known as a supernova remnant, G261.9+5.5.
[...] The image of SNR G261.9+05.5 might be beautiful to look at, but the processing of data from ASKAP's astronomy surveys is also a great way to stress-test the supercomputer system, including the hardware and the processing software.
[...] While the supercomputer is ramping up to full operations, so is ASKAP, which is currently wrapping up a series of pilot surveys and will soon undertake even larger and deeper surveys of the sky.
The supernova remnant is just one of many features we've now revealed, and we can expect many more stunning images, and the discovery of many new celestial objects, to come soon.
(Score: 3, Funny) by WeekendMonkey on Thursday August 11 2022, @11:07AM (2 children)
(Score: 2) by driverless on Thursday August 11 2022, @12:46PM (1 child)
Yeah, it does seem a bit dodgy, I mean everyone knows that Western Australia's favourite animal is the native Dropbear (Thylarctos plummetus) [australian.museum], not this Quakka [wikipedia.org] thing they're referring to. In fact the only reason the computer wasn't called Plummetus is because that name's already being used for the supercomputer that definitely isn't installed at Pine Gap.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 12 2022, @06:00AM
Western Australia is, as the name suggests, in the western part of the continent. So according to the Australian Museum page you linked to they don't exist there. Of course, you don't know the real reason the quokka is Western Australia's favorite animal, and the cretins at Pawsey certainly aren't going to tell you:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/234731.stm [bbc.co.uk]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by openlyretro on Thursday August 11 2022, @01:09PM (1 child)
I'm very curious to know how much data was transmitted to the supercomputer, at what rate, and the speed at which the data was crunched.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 11 2022, @02:17PM
strewth mate, it was fukken shitloads, fukken fast, and it got crunched as fast as old tom's balls when his missus sprung 'im with that sheila from the pub.
(Score: 2) by jelizondo on Thursday August 11 2022, @04:40PM
Hmm... it does not look like chorizo [interestingengineering.com]. So maybe it is supernova remnant :-)
(Score: 2) by corey on Friday August 12 2022, @10:47AM (1 child)
I saw this article I think on the guardian, but the text is copied and pasted. Maybe it’s just me but I found the article badly written. It kind of went around talking about a few things, like ASKAP and optical fibres and the supercomputer. But nothing much about the actual story which is the supernova. Additionally nothing about the actual telescope which took the image. As it says, ASKAP is “just one of” the new types of telescope that could make the image.
So which telescope took it, what processing was needed to be done to make the image, what is the image of, etc?
(Score: 2) by janrinok on Friday August 12 2022, @01:23PM
The data is being collected by ASKAP (Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder) and processed by the supercomputer. I don't see the ambiguity that you are seeing. ASKAP is the 'actual telescope' that took the image.