IUCAA’s radio survey gets new data gateway in Germany

PUNE: A massive radio astronomy survey led by the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune, entered a new phase on Monday with the launch of a data gateway in Germany, giving scientists another way to access its observations and images.The Deutsches Zentrum fur Astrophysik (DZA) in Gorlitz has created a copy, or mirror, of the MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey (MALS) data in collaboration with IUCAA’s IT team.MALS data is a huge collection of radio-wave observations of the universe made using the MeerKAT radio telescope in South Africa.The move is aimed at ensuring long-term access to the survey’s rapidly growing data and developing systems to handle the enormous datasets expected from the next generation of radio telescopes.MALS completed all of its planned observations by the end of 2025 after spending 1,400 hours observing the sky.