Current
Successful ThunderKAT kick-off
22 April 2011
The first meeting of the ThunderKAT project was held at Arniston (South Africa) from 19-21 April 2011. ThunderKAT is the MeerKAT Large Survey Project on transient radio (synchrotron) emission associated with accretion and explosive events. See the ThunderKAT website.
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| Participants in the first ThunderKAT science meeting, April 2011, Arniston, South Africa. | Prof Patrick Woudt (University of Cape Town) & Prof Rob Fender (University of Southampton) - co-principal investigators, ThunderKAT (at KAT-7 site in South Africa) |
The workshop attracted 32 participants representing a wide range of expertise in science (compact accreting binaries, supernovae and gamma-ray bursts), software, data calibration and simulation, and multi-wavelength observations of potential ThunderKAT targets. They came from a range of countries, including South Africa, Australia, UK, the Netherlands, Sweden, France and the USA.
The workshop centred around discussions for developing software towards real-time transient detections in the image plane with MeerKAT and KAT-7, and the involvement of ThunderKAT in early commissioning science with KAT-7.
A strategy for multi-wavelength follow-up of radio-detected transients at optical, infrared, sub-mm, X-ray/gamma-ray wavelengths was discussed.
A full record of the workshop (including the programme, participants and all the talks) is available at the workshop web site.
The organisers of the workshop acknowledge the financial support from a research development fund of the Worldwide University Network, a network of universities involving, amongst others, the institutes of the PIs of the LOFAR, ASKAP and MeerKAT transient surveys, namely Southampton, Sydney, and Cape Town, respectively.
Source: SKA South Africa eNews (May/June 2011)
