7-11 July 2014
Africa/Johannesburg timezone
<a href="http://events.saip.org.za/internalPage.py?pageId=16&confId=34"><font color=#0000ff>SAIP2014 Proceedings published on 17 April 2015</font></a>

MeerLICHT: Exploration of real-time commensal observing

8 Jul 2014, 14:40
20m
D Les 203

D Les 203

Oral Presentation Track D1 - Astrophysics Astro

Speaker

Prof. Patrick Woudt (University of Cape Town)

Level for award<br>&nbsp;(Hons, MSc, <br> &nbsp; PhD)?

N/a

Abstract content <br> &nbsp; (Max 300 words)<br><a href="http://events.saip.org.za/getFile.py/access?resId=0&materialId=0&confId=34" target="_blank">Formatting &<br>Special chars</a>

The MeerKAT radio telescope array has enabled commensal access to data obtained during science operations of the MeerKAT Large Survey Projects (LSP). This will open a tremendous window on the transient radio sky, especially when tracking transient events in real-time. To fully explore this new paradigm of real-time commensal observing, the ThunderKAT LSP will construct a small optical telescope (MeerLICHT, to be housed in Sutherland) which will always observe the MeerKAT sky, at the same time and with the same field of view. MeerLICHT in combination with MeerKAT/ThunderKAT is optimised to study astrophysical transients over a range of time scales in the radio and optical. In this talk I will outline the science of ThunderKAT and MeerLICHT, the time scale of both projects and highlight some of the early milestones.

Apply to be<br> considered for a student <br> &nbsp; award (Yes / No)?

No

Would you like to <br> submit a short paper <br> for the Conference <br> Proceedings (Yes / No)?

Yes

Main supervisor (name and email)<br>and his / her institution

N/a

Primary author

Prof. Patrick Woudt (University of Cape Town)

Co-authors

Prof. Paul Groot (Radboud University Nijmegen (NL)) Prof. Rob Fender (Oxford University (UK)) Dr Vanessa McBride (University of Cape Town &amp; SAAO)

Presentation Materials

There are no materials yet.