Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory
Close up of an ASKAP antenna with several more in the background
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| Abbreviation | MRO |
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| Location | Boolardy, Australia |
| Coordinates | 26°42′15″S 116°39′32″E / 26.7042°S 116.659°ECoordinates: 26°42′15″S 116°39′32″E / 26.7042°S 116.659°E |
| Telescopes | Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder, Murchison Widefield Array |
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The Murchison Radio-Astronomy Observatory (MRO) is a designated radio quiet zone located near Boolardy station in Western Australia.
It currently comprises two main instruments: The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), a low-frequency array operating in the frequency range 80-300 MHz; and the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP).
It is also one of two core sites for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), and both current instruments are technology and science pathfinders for the SKA.
Several smaller experiments (CORE, EDGES, PAPER and SCOPE) will also be sited at MRO.
The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) was built by CSIRO and comprises 36 identical antennas, each 12 metres in diameter, working together as a single instrument. ASKAP’s combination of fast survey speed and high sensitivity will allow astronomers to answer some fundamental questions about the creation and early evolution of our Universe, and to test theories of cosmic magnetism and predictions from Einstein's general theory of relativity. The facility was formally opened on 5 October 2012.
The Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) is a joint project between an international consortium of universities to build a low-frequency radio array operating in the frequency range 80-300 MHz. The main scientific goals of the MWA are to detect neutral atomic Hydrogen emission from the cosmological Epoch of Reionization(EoR), to study the Sun, the heliosphere, the Earth's ionosphere, and to study radio transient phenomena. The MWA is the first so-called large-N array, fully cross-correlating signals from 128 phased tiles of 16 crossed dipoles (each). The field of view is large by the standard of astronomical instruments, being on the order of 30 degrees across.
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