新的射電望遠鏡系統檢測到快速收音機的爆發速度比以往任何時候都快

研究人員成功測試了一項新技術，該技術比以往任何時候都更快地檢測到夜空中快速的無線電爆發，從而發現了一大批數據，以幫助天文學家研究這些神秘的太空現象的來源。

Astronomers have successfully tested a new technology that can detect fast radio bursts in the night sky faster than ever before, uncovering a treasure trove of data to help investigate the source of these mysterious space phenomena.

天文學家已經成功測試了一項新技術，該技術可以比以往任何時候都更快地檢測到夜空中快速的無線電爆發，從而發現了一群數據，以幫助研究這些神秘的太空現象的來源。

Developed by astronomers and engineers at Australia's national science agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), the new system — known as the Commensal Realtime ASKAP Fast Transient Coherent, or CRACO — was designed to rapidly detect fast radio bursts (FRBs) and other transient phenomena using CSIRO's ASKAP radio telescope in Western Australia.

由澳大利亞國家科學局，英聯邦科學和工業研究組織（CSIRO）的天文學家和工程師開發，新系統（稱為Comensal實時ASKAP ASKAP快速瞬態相干或CRACO）旨在快速檢測快速無線電爆發（FRBS）以及使用CSIRO的ASKAP射電望遠鏡的其他短暫現象。

FRBs are sporadic, intense flashes of radio wave energy that can be brighter than entire galaxies. In just thousandths of a second, an FRB can emit as much energy as the sun does over three days, typically at a radio frequency of about 1,400 hertz. Given their unpredictable nature as well as how fast they can come and go, gathering data on FRBs can be difficult, making them one of astronomy's more exciting mysteries.

FRB是零星，強烈的無線電波閃爍，比整個星係都更明亮。在僅千分之一秒的時間裡，FRB可以發出與太陽在三天內盡可能多的能量，通常以約1,400赫茲的射頻。鑑於他們不可預測的本性以及他們可以走的速度，因此很難收集FRB的數據，這使它們成為天文學更令人興奮的謎團之一。

This data gap is what a team, led by Andy Wang from Curtin University's node of the International Center for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR), set out to solve. Remarkably, in the system's first test, Wang found more objects than he'd anticipated, including two FRBs, a couple of sporadically emitting standard neutron stars, and better data for four known pulsars. The latter helped refine the locations of these pulsars, which are spinning neutron stars. Since that first test, additional searches have found more than 20 FRBs.

這個數據差距是由科廷大學國際射電天文學研究中心（ICRAR）節點的安迪·王（Andy Wang）領導的團隊，開始解決。值得注意的是，在系統的第一次測試中，王發現的物體比他預期的要多，其中包括兩個FRB，幾個偶發地發射標準的中子星，以及四個已知脈衝星的更好數據。後者有助於完善這些脈衝星的位置，這些脈衝星是旋轉中子星的。自第一次測試以來，其他搜索發現了20多個FRB。

"We were focused on finding fast radio bursts, a mysterious phenomenon that has opened up a new field of research in astronomy," Dr. Wang said in an ICRAR statement. "CRACO is enabling us to find these bursts better than ever before. We have been searching for bursts 100 times per second and in the future we expect this will increase to 1,000 times per second."

王博士在《 ICRAR聲明》中說：“我們專注於尋找快速無線電爆發，這是一種神秘的現象，為天文學開闢了新的研究領域。” “ Craco使我們能夠比以往任何時候都更好地發現這些爆發。我們一直在尋找每秒100次爆發，將來我們希望這將增加到每秒1000次。”

Sifting through sand in the sky

在天空中的沙子篩

Keith Bannister, a CSIRO astronomer and engineer who led the team that built CRACO, likened its capabilities to "sifting through a whole beach of sand to look for a single five-cent coin every minute." The system processes about 100 billion pixels per second, scanning ASKAP's "live" view of the sky in search of fleeting cosmic signals.

CSIRO天文學家和工程師Keith Bannister領導了建造Craco的團隊，他的能力將“在整個沙灘上篩選，每分鐘尋找一個五美分的硬幣”。該系統每秒處理約1000億像素，掃描Askap的“現場”景觀，以尋找短暫的宇宙信號。

Located at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory on Wajarri Yamaji Country, the ASKAP radio telescope is already a major radio astronomy facility for international scientists, so CRACO's integration into ASKAP is expected to broaden the observatory's scientific impact worldwide.

ASKAP射電望遠鏡位於Wajarri Yamaji國家的Csiro Murchison Rady-Astronomy天文台，位於Inyarrimanha Ilgari Budgari Bundara，Askap射電望遠鏡已經成為國際科學家的主要射電天文學設施，因此，Craco在ASKAP中的整合將範圍擴大了觀察者的科學影響。

"Once at full capacity, CRACO will be a game changer for international astronomy," Wang said. "We're also detecting long-period transients, which remain mysterious objects within our galaxy. Both fast radio bursts and these transients were first discovered in Australia, so it is great that we’re continuing the path of discovery with this impressive technology."

王說：“克拉科（Craco）一旦滿足，將成為國際天文學的遊戲規則改變者。” “我們還檢測到長期的瞬態，這些瞬變仍然是我們銀河系中神秘的物體。快速無線電爆發和這些瞬態首次在澳大利亞發現，因此我們以這種令人印象深刻的技術繼續發現發現的道路真是太好了。 “

As part of CSIRO's Australia Telescope National Facility, CRACO will soon be available to astronomers around the globe, enabling rapid identification of transient celestial signals and paving the way for further discoveries in the cosmos.

作為CSIRO澳大利亞望遠鏡國家設施的一部分，Craco將很快向全球的天文學家提供，從而可以快速識別短暫的天體信號，並為宇宙中進一步的發現鋪平了道路。

The first batch of findings was published this week in Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia.

第一批發現本週在澳大利亞天文學會的出版物上發表。