The SKA Observatory (SKAO) is building the two largest radio telescopes in the world, in an international effort to revolutionise our view of the radio sky. Now under construction in South Africa and Australia, the telescopes will respectively cover the low and mid to high radio frequencies. The past few years have seen great progress, and science verification data is anticipated to be...
In this talk I will briefly outline the Italian involvement in the SKA project, with particular emphasis on the ongoing activities in preparation for the science exploitation of the SKA surveys.
SKAO is expected to provide the researchers with order 300 PBy/year of data from the SKA low-frequency telescope (SKA-LOW) and 300 PBy/year of data from the SKA high-frequency telescope (SKA-MID) during the first few years of activity. The advanced analysis of all those data will take place within a network of so-called SKA Regional Centres (SRCs), which, under the ‘Findable, Accessible,...
INAF together with several Italian industries, Universities and other research institutes have been involved in this great project since its conception back in 2002.
The first developments occurred in 2004 with the involvement of the Institute of Radio Astronomy in the EC FP6 SKADS project using the large Northern Cross radiotelescope for testing, among others, new technologies to be applied...
A brief overview of the development activities of the SKA Observation Management and Control (OMC) software, based on the TANGO framework, is given. INAF collaborates in the creation of this immense software structure with a number of researchers and technologists with recognized experience in TANGO. They mainly deal with the CSP Local Monitoring and Control (CSP.LMC) system, the TARANTA...
LOFAR is largest pathfinder of the SKA-low, achieving sensitivity and angular resolution 100 times better than in past instruments, LOFAR is opening a new observational window at the low radio frequencies.
Italy, led by INAF, has been a member of the International LOFAR Telescope since the second half of 2018 and since then the Italian community has become one of the most important...
South Africa is one of Italy's particularly relevant scientific partners in Africa, due to the strong involvement of a few Departments of the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics - along with other national research and higher education institutions - into the development of the Square Kilometre Array project and its precursors, in cooperation with the South African Radio Astronomy...
