UNSW Mopra Research Projects

The Delta Quadrant Survey (DQS)

• Maria Cunningham (formerly Hunt), UNSW, Australia
• Michael Burton, UNSW, Australia
• Indra Bains, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
• Paul Jones, ATNF, Australia
• Tony Wong, UNSW/ATNF, Australia
• Nadia Lo, UNSW, Australia
• Erik Müller, ATNF, Australia

The Delta Quadarant Survey has been so-named as the observations are centred on a molecular cloud complex, G333--RCW 106--which is situated in the fourth quadrant of the Galaxy. During the Winter 2004 season, we have started mapping this region in the abundant molecule ¹³ CO and C¹⁸O using the Mopra Telescope. In the following year, we have finished mapping C¹⁸O, CS and C³⁴S. With the newly installed 8 GHz digital filterband, we have mapped the same region with even more molecular lines: HCN, HNC, HCO⁺ , H¹³CO⁺, CH₃OH, SiO, C₂H, HC₃N, and many more.
Click here for more details.

Survey of Spirals (SOS)

• Patricia Sparks, UNSW, Australia
• Maria Hunt, UNSW, Australia
• Michael Burton, UNSW, Australia
• Steven Curran, UNSW, Australia
• Paul Jones, ATNF, Australia
• Tony Wong, ATNF, Australia
• Christian Henkel, MPiFR
• Tamara Helfer, UC Berkeley, USA

We are observing a sample of around 50 spiral galaxies in the 115 GHz transition of CO 1--0 with the Mopra telescope. The sample has been selected on the basis of far infrared flux, which should select galaxies readily detectable in CO and other molecular tracers. The purpose of the CO survey is to select a sample of galaxies to observe simultaneously in the dense molecular gas tracers HNC, N₂H ⁺ and HCO+ with the new MOPS filterbank and MMIC receiver combination. In addition, the catalogue generated with this project will be useful for planning ALMA observations in the future.

Page created by Cormac Purcell and maintained by Nadia Lo. If you have any comments and suggestions, please direct your email to nlo@phys.unsw.edu.au.