The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) Variables and Slow Transients (VAST) project, one of ASKAP's main Survey Science Projects, has just published its first pain survey paper. This paper describes a search over more than 1600 square degrees for variable and transient radio sources, on timescales of 1 day up to 8 months. Twenty-eight transient or variable sources were found, including 7 pulsars, 7 stars, and a number of unclassified objects.

This is just the first paper from this project. Overall the VAST Pilot Survey Phase 1 observed over 5000 square degrees during 2020, and the Pilot Survey Phase 2 is currently underway. Other specific science results from the Pilot Phase 1 survey have already been published

UWM Professor of Physics David Kaplan is co-PI of the VAST project, along with first author and University of Sydney Professor Tara Murphy. UWM Postdoc Andrew O'Brien is leading much of the processing. The paper was accepted for publication in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia.

Links:
ASKAP
VAST
Papers:

PTA New radio stars identified in the VAST pilot survey, catalogued by Pritchard et al. (2021).