Parkes observations for project PX600 semester 2020APRS_37

The Galactic Center (GC) is a key target for the radio component of Breakthrough Listen (BL) program. Offering the largest amount of stars in any given direction in the sky, the GC is widely cited as a location believed to harbour advanced civilizations, and it is also the most energetic region in the Milky Way. We aim to conduct BL-GC Survey with Parkes radio telescope for around 350 hours. We will cover the frequency range from 700 MHz to 4 GHz, utilizing the newly installed ultra-wideband receiver. Our team has already leveraged both standard and bespoke tools to construct a flexible software stack to search data for signals of interest. We will look for signals from extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI) by searching for both simple narrow-band signals and complex modulated signals. Along with that, as an ancillary science, we will also search for accelerated pulsars — likely orbiting a supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy. Data products produced during this program will also be publically available to engage larger pulsar community

银心（Galactic Center, GC）是“突破聆听”（Breakthrough Listen, BL）项目射电观测分支的核心目标。作为天空中任一方向上恒星数量最多的天区，银心不仅被普遍认为有可能存在先进文明，同时也是银河系内能量活动最为剧烈的区域。本项目计划使用帕克斯（Parkes）射电望远镜开展BL-GC巡天观测，总观测时长约350小时。我们将利用新安装的超宽带接收机（ultra-wideband receiver），覆盖700 MHz至4 GHz的频率范围。研究团队已结合标准工具与定制化开发工具，搭建了灵活的软件栈以对观测数据开展目标信号检索工作。我们将通过搜寻简单窄带信号与复杂调制信号两类特征，来寻找地外智慧生命（extraterrestrial intelligence, ETI）发出的信号。与此同时，作为本项目的辅助科学研究内容，我们还将搜寻环绕银河系中心超大质量黑洞（supermassive black hole）运行的加速脉冲星。本项目产生的全部数据产品将面向公众开放，以惠及更广泛的脉冲星研究社区。