Astronomers from a consortium of Canadian universities, led by the University of Toronto, have been awarded Can$10 million to develop a radio astronomy data center that will play a major role in the National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Very Large Array Sky Survey (VLASS).
The new center will perform advanced processing on VLASS data to enhance the scientific value of the survey. The enhanced data will be provided freely to the research community. VLASS observing began on Sept. 7, and will continue for the next 7 years, covering the 80 percent of the sky visible from the National Science Foundation’s Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) in New Mexico.
The Dunlap Institute at the University of Toronto, led by Bryan Gaensler, will receive Can$3.5 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and nearly Can$6 million from provincial sources will go to the other partners for the new data center.
“This is an important part of maximizing the value of VLASS to researchers around the world,” said Claire Chandler, Project Director for VLASS.
For more information, see the University of Toronto’s announcement.
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory is a facility of the National Science Foundation, operated under cooperative agreement by Associated Universities, Inc.
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