Time domain science and LSST follow‐up in South Africa (+ SKA)

Stephen Potter

South African Astronomical Observatory

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1.9m SAAOPMTs <20% QE

10m VLTCCD >90% QE

The POLAR IGRJ14536-5522

Optical (near-uv to near-ir) Astronomy:

Various small SA telescopes: 1.9m, 1.0m, 0.75m, 0.5m…

Other small telescopes jointly operated: e.g. with Japan 1.4m IRSF

Small (automated) telescopes: UK, Germany, USA, Poland

SALT owned by international consortium

Sutherland Observing Station

7 antennas, L-band (1200-1950 MHz)

Jan 2008: Project startMay 2009: First antenna installed on siteDec 2009: FringesApril 2010: First ImageOct 2010: ESKOM power on siteOct 2010: Cold receiver installationNov 2010: 10 Mbps link to CTDec 2011: Engineering completion

KAT-7 (MeerKAT prototype)

SA is committed to completing MeerKAT construction by 2016Award of 64-dish MeerKAT antenna contractMeerKAT roads & infrastructure under constructionSubsystem development on trackWork on integration of MeerKAT with SKA is proceeding (64 + 190 dishes)

MeerKAT

MeerKAT Large Survey Projects

Radio Pulsar Timing (Bailes)

LADUMA - ultra deep HI survey (Blyth, Holwerda, Baker)

MESMER - high redshift CO (Heywood)

MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (Gupta, Srianand)

MHONGOOSE - nearby HI (de Blok)

TRAPUM - fast transients and pulsars (Stappers, Kramer)

HI Survey of Fornax Cluster (Serra)

MeerGAL - high frequency galactic plan survey (Thompson, Goedhart)

MIGHTEE - deep continuum (van der Heyden, Jarvis)

ThunderKAT - explosive / "slow" transients (Woudt, Fender)

SKA Site DecisionSKA1 SKA2

SKA1_LOW ANZ SKA2_LOW ANZ

SKA1_MID RSA SKA2_MID RSA

SKA1_Survey ANZ SKA2_AA RSA

Most of the telescope will be built in Africa

MeerKAT and ASKAP pathfinders to be incorporated into SKA Phase 1Details still to be negotiated.SKA1_Mid: 64 MeerKAT dishes + ~190 SKA dishesSKA1_Survey: 36 ASKAP dishes + ~60 SKA dishes

SKA Dishes in the 5km "Core"

Population density in RSA