Malt-45
The StarFISH project (an extension of the MALT-45 project) aims to map tracers of high-mass star formation in the southern hemisphere. To date, a lot of data has been collected, but progress has been slow as all the involved researchers have commitments ahead of this project. In the past, this wasn't a great issue because the pipeline to reduce the data was reliable enough to make it a background task, but in 2021 other issues.
Area of science
Astronomy
Systems used
Nimbus
Applications used
The Challenge
How are high-mass stars made? If we want to understand how galaxies evolve over time, we need to understand how these stars are made, as they dramatically alter their environments (i) during their formation (ii) over their lifetimes and (iii) in their deaths (supernovas). Understanding how the stars are made is challenging as these environments are dense and difficult to observe.
The Solution
By surveying large areas of the Galaxy, we gather more clues over many epochs of HMSF to piece the puzzle together. The novel techniques implemented by StarFISH (e.g. using an interferometer as a “single dish”) allow us to sensitively and efficiently carry out this survey. The results gathered can then be matched up against similar results from other surveys or intensely-researched regions.
The Outcome
Pawsey’s Nimbus has allowed our researchers to conveniently access and process data from around the world, and has removed the burden of needing compute resources to be accompanying one of our researchers. We are grateful for access to this resource, and with the recent acquisition of an additional 20 TB of storage, we are able to get on with our work without hassle.
