A radio telescope in outback Western Australia has been used to observe radiation from cosmic rays in two neighbouring galaxies, showing areas of star formation and echoes of past supernovae.
The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) telescope was able to map the Large Magellanic Cloud and Small Magellanic Cloud galaxies in unprecedented detail as they orbit around the Milky Way.
A red, green, blue composite image of the Large Magellanic Cloud made from radio wavelength observations at 123MHz, 181MHz and 227MHz. At these wavelengths, emission from cosmic rays and the hot gases belonging to the star forming regions and supernova remnants of the galaxy are visible. Credit: ICRAR.
By observing the sky at very low frequencies, astronomers detected cosmic rays and hot gas in the two galaxies and identified patches where new stars are born and remnants from stellar explosions can be found.
The research was published today in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, one of the world’s leading astronomy journals.
International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) astrophysicist Professor Lister Staveley-Smith said cosmic rays are very energetic charged particles that interact with magnetic fields to create radiation we can see with radio telescopes.
“These cosmic rays actually originate in supernova remnants—remnants from stars that exploded a long time ago,” he said.
“The supernova explosions they come from are related to very massive stars, much more massive than our own Sun.
“The number of cosmic rays that are produced depends on the rate of formation of these massive stars millions of years ago.”
The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are very close to our own Milky Way—less than 200,000 light years away—and can be seen in the night sky with the naked eye.
The Milky Way arching over the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds as viewed from the Pinnacles Desert in Western Australia. Credit: inefekt69 / Flickr.
ICRAR astronomer Dr Bi-Qing For, who led the research, said this was the first time the galaxies had been mapped in detail at such low radio frequencies.
“Observing the Magellanic Clouds at these very low frequencies—between 76 and 227MHz—meant we could estimate the number of new stars being formed in these galaxies,” she said.
“We found that the rate of star formation in the Large Magellanic Cloud is roughly equivalent to one new star the mass of our Sun being produced every ten years.
“In the Small Magellanic Cloud, the rate of star formation is roughly equivalent to one new star the mass of our Sun every forty years.”
Included in the observations are 30 Doradus, an exceptional region of star formation in the Large Magellanic Cloud that is brighter than any star formation region in the Milky Way, and Supernova 1987A, the brightest supernova since the invention of the telescope.
A red, green, blue composite image of the Large Magellanic Cloud (left) and Small Magellanic Cloud (right) made from radio wavelength observations taken at 123MHz, 181MHz and 227MHz. At these wavelengths, emission from cosmic rays and the hot gases belonging to the star forming regions and supernova remnants of the galaxy are visible. Credit: ICRAR.
Professor Staveley-Smith said the results are an exciting glimpse into the science that will be possible with next-generation radio telescopes.
“It shows an indication of the results that we will see with the upgraded MWA, which now has twice the previous resolution,” he said.
Furthermore, the forthcoming Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will deliver exceptionally fine images.
“With the SKA the baselines are eight times longer again, so we’ll be able to do so much better,” Professor Staveley-Smith said.
A time-lapse sequence of more than 1,000 images captured at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in Mid West WA. Tile 107, or “the Outlier” as it is known, is one of 128 original tiles of this SKA precursor instrument located 1.5km from the core of the telescope. Lighting the tile and the ancient landscape is the Moon.
Publication Details
‘‘A Multi-Frequency Radio Continuum Study of the Magellanic Clouds. I. Overall Structure and Star Formation Rates’, published in The Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society on September 4th, 2018.
Research paper available from here.
more INformation
The MWA
The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is a low frequency radio telescope and is the first of four Square Kilometre Array (SKA) precursors to be completed.
A consortium of partner institutions from seven countries (Australia, USA, India, New Zealand, Canada, Japan, and China) financed the development, construction, commissioning, and operations of the facility. The MWA consortium is led by Curtin University.
ICRAR
The International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) is a joint venture between Curtin University and The University of Western Australia with support and funding from the State Government of Western Australia.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Professor Lister Staveley-Smith (ICRAR / The University of WA)
Ph: +61 6488 4550 E: Lister.Staveley-Smith@icrar.org
Dr Bi-Qing For (ICRAR / The University of WA)
Ph: +61 6488 7729 E: BiQing.For@icrar.org
Pete Wheeler (Media Contact, ICRAR)
Ph: +61 410 549 023 E: Pete.Wheeler@icrar.org
