The SKA Mid-frequency All-sky Continuum Survey: Discovering the unexpected and transforming radio-astronomy

Ray P. Norris; Kaustuv Basu; Michael Brown; Ettore Carretti; Anna D. Kapinska; Isabella Prandoni; Lawrence Rudnick; Nick Seymour

arXiv · 1412.6076

The SKA Mid-frequency All-sky Continuum Survey: Discovering the unexpected and transforming radio-astronomy

Ray P. Norris·Kaustuv Basu·Michael Brown·Ettore Carretti·Anna D. Kapinska·Isabella Prandoni·Lawrence Rudnick·Nick Seymour

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Abstract

We show that, in addition to specific science goals, there is a strong case for conducting an all-sky (i.e. the visible 3-pi steradians) SKA continuum survey which does not fit neatly into conventional science cases. History shows that the greatest scientific impact of most major telescopes (e.g., HST, VLA) lies beyond the original goals used to justify the telescope. The design of the telescope therefore needs to maximise the ultimate scientific productivity, in addition to achieving the specific science goals. In this chapter, we show that an all-sky continuum survey is likely to achieve transformational science in two specific respects: (1) Discovering the unexpected (2) Transforming radio-astronomy from niche to mainstream

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Ray P. Norris, Kaustuv Basu, Michael Brown, Ettore Carretti, Anna D. Kapinska, Isabella Prandoni, Lawrence Rudnick, Nick Seymour. 2014-12-18. The SKA Mid-frequency All-sky Continuum Survey: Discovering the unexpected and transforming radio-astronomy. https://arxiv.org/abs/1412.6076

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