North-South arm upgrade update

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The upgrade of the North-South arm of the Molonglo telescope — being carried out so that we can localise Fast Radio Bursts to their host galaxies — is well under way.

Five of the 11 “modules” (9 meter long receiver elements) are now in place on the arm, and data taking on two of them in full operation.

All five are expected to be taking data by the end of October 2020.

 
Dave Temby and Angus Sutherland doing final adjustments on a newly installed module.
 
Two solar powered battery units are in full operation powering the newly installed modules.

Five pulsars have been observed with the system to date — Vela, J0837-4135, J1644-4559, J1752-2806 and J1243-6423.

Profile of the bright Southern pulsar J1644-4559, as seen with a small section of the NS-arm at Molonglo.