By Bryan Gaensler (U. Toronto, CIRADA Director)
(Cassiopeia – Winter 2022)
The Canadian Initiative for Radio Astronomy Data Analysis (CIRADA) is producing science-ready public data products for large surveys being conducted with three telescopes: the Very Large Array (VLA), the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), and the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME). These products (e.g., images, cubes, time series spectra, catalogues, databases, alerts, pipeline algorithms, and software tools) utilize Canadian Advanced Network for Astronomical Research (CANFAR) services and are searchable and usable by professional astronomers and the public through the Canadian Astronomy Data Centre (CADC). CIRADA also serves as a pilot project for Canada’s planned Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Regional Centre.
Recent updates on CIRADA’s products and services include:
- The first catalogue release for the VCSS Epoch 1 Bright Source Catalogue. VCSS is the VLA Low-band Ionosphere and Transient Experiment (VLITE) Commensal Sky Survey, a set of commensal 340-MHz observations performed at the same time as VLASS 2-4 GHz observations. The VCSS Epoch 1 Bright Source Catalogue comprises 52,844 components catalogued above 50 sigma. VLITE is a 340-MHz commensal instrument that operates during nearly all 1-50 GHz observations on the NRAO VLA. Data are recorded on up to 18 VLITE antennas, correlated, and transferred to the US Naval Research Laboratory for automated pipeline processing and archiving. A special VLITE correlator mode was enabled on VLITE to allow the processing of on-the-fly data associated with VLASS.
- The WALLABY (Widefield ASKAP L-band Legacy All-sky Blind survey) pilot phase data release 1 (PDR1) occurred on November 15th, 2022. WALLABY is an ongoing all-sky untargeted HI survey utilizing ASKAP. Pilot observations of the Hydra, Norma, and NGC 4636 fields have now been completed. Please click here to access CIRADA’s WALLABY PDR1 data portal, which provides links and documentation relevant for these pilot data. You can also read the details of the release through the following publications:
- WALLABY pilot survey: Public release of H I data for almost 600 galaxies from phase 1 of ASKAP pilot observations (Westmeier et al., 2022, PASA, 39, e058)
- WALLABY Pilot Survey: Public release of HI kinematic models for more than 100 galaxies from phase 1 of ASKAP pilot observations (Deg et al., 2022, PASA, 39, e059)
- The WKAPP (WALLABY Kinematic Analysis Proto-Pipeline) is the set of scripts used to generate the WALLABY PDR1 kinematic models. It utilizes both the FAT and the 3D-Barolo kinematic fitting codes, the CIRADA-developed MCGSuite mock cube generator code, and a set of custom scripts to generate the final set of kinematic models. The software is now available at the WKAPP GitHub repository.
- Enhancements to the CIRADA Image Cutout Provider, which allows users to quickly extract cutouts from multiple surveys at specified positions and to download associated FITS files. the data for further analysis. The RACS survey was recently added for users to check. The Rapid ASKAP Continuum Survey (RACS) has now been added to the list of available surveys. In addition, we now offer an enhanced cutout command line tool, for those wishing to script cutout extraction or to make large numbers of requests. A new docker image is also available, containing a tar file of the docker image and associated instructions.
Additional VLASS products are coming soon:
- VLASS Epoch 2 Quick Look Catalogue
- Epoch 2 Single Epoch Catalogue for around 1000 square degrees
- updated version of the Epoch 1 Quick Look Catalogue for VLASS.
Each catalogue will consist of three tables: a Component Table, a Host ID Table, and a Subtitle Information Table that provides metadata on the quick-look images used to produce the catalogue. The single epoch catalogue also contains information about the spectral indices for the identified components. An enhanced Catalogue User Guide with a complete description of the catalogue production, data models and known data quality issues will accompany these catalogues.
Additional features coming soon for the Image Cutout Provider is AP functionality and the addition of VLASS Epoch 2 Single Epoch data.
For more information about CIRADA and our services, software tools and data products, please visit cirada.ca.