CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility held its 8th Synthesis Imaging School from Monday 29 Septmber to Friday 3 October, 2008 at the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) near Narrabri, NSW. The format was similar to previous Schools:

There will be lectures by radio astronomers and engineers as well as practical sessions involving ATCA observing and data reduction. The intended audience is postgraduate students and other interested researchers. No prior experience with radio astronomy was required. Participants were encouraged to present a poster describing their research.

Key topics:

• Fundamentals of a radio interferometer
• Synthesis Imaging
• Australia Telescope Compact Array
• Specialized Observing Modes
• Atmospheric Effects and Data Calibration
• Techniques for millimetre wavelength observations
• Recent science results with radio intereferometers
• Practical Sessions: Observing and Data Reduction
• Future ATCA developments
• The next generation of interferometers - SKA and ALMA

Scientific organising committee:

Phil Edwards (Chair), Robert Braun, Kate Brooks, Tim Cornwell, Ilana Feain, Maxim Voronkov, Tobias Westmeier

Venue:

Australia Telescope Compact Array, Narrabri, NSW Australia

Dates:

29 September -- 3 October, 2008

Textbook:

The was no formal textbook for the Synthesis Imaging School, and material for most of the lectures will be made available on-line later this week. However, most of the (non-ATCA specific) material in the course is covered in detail in "Synthesis Imaging in Radio Astronomy II" (ed. Taylor, Carilli & Perley, (ASP Conference Series vol. 180).

Registration:

The registration fee was $225 for students and $275 for others and covered all lunches as well as two dinner events.

Program:

Version 1.6 (26-sep-2008) of the program is available here. The final version, with links to presentations, is now available.

Important dates:

• May 2008: First announcement
• 1st August 2008: Second announcement + registration opened
• 29th August 2008: Registration closed
• September 2008: Third announcement
• 29 September 2008: School commenced

Promotional Materials

Please bring this school to the attention of anyone else who may be interested. A poster for displaying on departmental notice boards is available as PDF file from here.