Four Pi Sky
4 Pi Sky is a project led by Professor Rob Fender and funded at the level of 3M€ by the European Research Council.
The project has the ultimate goal of revolutionising our understanding of the explosive and dynamic nature of the universe, primarily by enhancing and coordinating the capabilities of 'next generation' software telescopes
such as LOFAR, MeerKAT, and ASKAP. These three facilities, pathfinders for the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), have very large fields of view, dramatically increasing their survey speed (both for static and variable sources). They are also fortuitously situated globally in a way which makes them a natural network for the detection and follow-up of radio transients.
LOFAR and ASKAP have very wide fields of view, perfect for the detection of transient new phenomena, whereas MeerKAT has the greatest point-source sensitivity. Furthermore, LOFAR is more likely to detect short-timescale coherent transients which need immediate follow-up, whereas ASKAP is more likely to detect synchrotron events which evolve more slowly. Between them we have 4π steradians coverage (i.e. the whole sky).
Visit our research group website