Evolutionary Map Of The Universe Research Articles

Gamma-ray detection of newly discovered Ancora supernova remnant: G288.8-6.3

The supernova remnant (SNR) was recently discovered as a faint radio shell at high Galactic latitude using observations with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) in the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) survey. We performed the first detailed investigation of the gamma -ray emission from the region, aiming to characterise the high-energy emission in the GeV regime from the newly discovered SNR, dubbed Ancora. Fifteen years of Fermi --Large Area Telescope (LAT) data were analysed at energies between MeV and TeV and the excess seen in the region was modelled using different spatial and spectral models. We detect spatially extended gamma -ray emission coinciding with the radio SNR, with detection significance up to SIsigma . A radial disk spatial model in combination with a power-law spectral model with an energy flux of pm0.91e-06 s with the spectrum extending up to around GeV was found to be the preferred model. Morphologically, hotspots seen above GeV are well correlated with the bright western part of the radio shell. The emission is more likely to be of leptonic origin, given the estimated gas density in the region and the estimated distance and age of the SNR, but a hadronic scenario cannot be ruled out. Ancora is the seventh confirmed SNR detected at high Galactic latitude with Fermi --LAT. The study of this new population of remnants can provide insights into the evolutionary aspects of SNRs and their properties, and further advance efforts of constraining the physics of particle diffusion and escape from SNRs into the Galaxy.

EMU/GAMA: Radio detected galaxies are more obscured than optically selected galaxies

Abstract We demonstrate the importance of radio selection in probing heavily obscured galaxy populations. We combine Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) Early Science data in the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) G23 field with the GAMA data, providing optical photometry and spectral line measurements, together withWide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) infrared (IR) photometry, providing IR luminosities and colours. We investigate the degree of obscuration in star forming galaxies, based on the Balmer decrement (BD), and explore how this trend varies, over a redshift range of 0 < z < 0.345. We demonstrate that the radio detected population has on average higher levels of obscuration than the parent optical sample, arising through missing the lowest BD and lowest mass galaxies, which are also the lower star formation rate (SFR) and metallicity systems. We discuss possible explanations for this result, including speculation around whether it might arise from steeper stellar initial mass functions in low mass, low SFR galaxies.

Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU): A pilot search for diffuse, non-thermal radio emission in galaxy clusters with the Australian SKA Pathfinder

Abstract Clusters of galaxies have been found to host Mpc-scale diffuse, non-thermal radio emission in the form of central radio halos and peripheral relics. Turbulence and shock-related processes in the intra-cluster medium are generally considered responsible for the emission, though details of these processes are still not clear. The low surface brightness makes detection of the emission a challenge, but with recent surveys with high-sensitivity radio telescopes we are beginning to build large samples of these sources. The Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) is a Southern Sky survey being performed by the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) over the next few years and is well-suited to detect and characterise such emission. To assess prospects of the full survey, we have performed a pilot search of diffuse sources in 71 clusters from the Planck Sunyaev–Zeldovich (SZ) cluster catalogue (PSZ2) found in archival ASKAP observations. After re-imaging the archival data and performing both (u, v)-plane and image-plane angular scale filtering, we detect 21 radio halos (12 for the first time, excluding an additional six candidates), 11 relics (in seven clusters, and six for the first time, excluding a further five candidate relics), along with 12 other, unclassified diffuse radio sources. From these detections, we predict the full EMU survey will uncover up to $\approx 254$ radio halos and $\approx 85$ radio relics in the 858 PSZ2 clusters that will be covered by EMU. The percentage of clusters found to host diffuse emission in this work is similar to the number reported in recent cluster surveys with the LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) Two-metre Sky Survey [Botteon, et al. 2022a, A&A, 660, A78], suggesting EMU will complement similar searches being performed in the Northern Sky and provide us with statistically significant samples of halos and relics at the completion of the full survey. This work presents the first step towards large samples of the diffuse radio sources in Southern Sky clusters with ASKAP and eventually the SKA.

EMU/GAMA: A technique for detecting active galactic nuclei in low mass systems

Abstract We propose a new method for identifying active galactic nuclei (AGN) in low mass ( $\mathrm{M}_*\leq10^{10}\mathrm{M}_\odot$ ) galaxies. This method relies on spectral energy distribution (SED) fitting to identify galaxies whose radio flux density has an excess over that expected from star formation alone. Combining data in the Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA) G23 region from GAMA, Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) early science observations, and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE), we compare this technique with a selection of different AGN diagnostics to explore the similarities and differences in AGN classification. We find that diagnostics based on optical and near-infrared criteria (the standard BPT diagram, the WISE colour criterion, and the mass-excitation, or MEx diagram) tend to favour detection of AGN in high mass, high luminosity systems, while the “ProSpect” SED fitting tool can identify AGN efficiently in low mass systems. We investigate an explanation for this result in the context of proportionally lower mass black holes in lower mass galaxies compared to higher mass galaxies and differing proportions of emission from AGN and star formation dominating the light at optical and infrared wavelengths as a function of galaxy stellar mass. We conclude that SED-derived AGN classification is an efficient approach to identify low mass hosts with low radio luminosity AGN.

EMU Detection of a Large and Low Surface Brightness Galactic SNR G288.8–6.3

We present the serendipitous detection of a new Galactic supernova remnant (SNR), G288.8–6.3, using data from the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) survey. Using multifrequency analysis, we confirm this object as an evolved Galactic SNR at high Galactic latitude with low radio surface brightness and typical SNR spectral index of α = − 0.41 ± 0.12. To determine the magnetic field strength in SNR G288.8–6.3, we present the first derivation of the equipartition formulae for SNRs with spectral indices α > − 0.5. The angular size is 1.°8 × 1.°6 (107.′6 × 98.′4), and we estimate that its intrinsic size is ∼40 pc, which implies a distance of ∼1.3 kpc and a position of ∼140 pc above the Galactic plane. This is one of the largest in angular size and closest Galactic SNRs. Given its low radio surface brightness, we suggest that it is about 13,000 yr old.

Central radio galaxies in galaxy clusters: Joint surveys by eROSITA and ASKAP

Contact. The extended ROentgen Survey with an Imaging Telescope Array (eROSITA) telescope on board the Spectrum-Roentgen-Gamma (SRG) mission has completed the first eROSITA All-Sky Survey (eRASS:1). It detected ∼104 galaxy clusters in the western Galactic hemisphere. In the radio band, the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope completed its pilot 1 phase of the project Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) with 220 000 sources in a 270 deg2 field overlapping with eRASS:1. These two surveys are used to study radio-mode active galactic nuclei in clusters. Aims. In order to understand the efficiency of radio-mode feedback at the centers of galaxy clusters, we relate the radio properties of the brightest cluster galaxies to the X-ray properties of the host clusters. Methods. We identified the central radio sources in eRASS:1 clusters or calculated corresponding upper limits on the radio luminosity. Then, we derived relations between the X-ray properties of the clusters and the radio properties of the corresponding central radio source. Results. In total, we investigated a sample of 75 clusters. We find a statistically significant correlation between the X-ray luminosity of the cluster and the 944 MHz radio luminosity of the corresponding central radio galaxy. There is also a positive trend between the radio power and the largest linear size of the radio source. The density and the largest linear size are not correlated. We find that the kinetic luminosity of the radio jets in high-luminosity clusters with LX > 1043 erg s−1 is no longer correlated with the X-ray luminosity, and we discuss various reasons. We find an anticorrelation between the central cooling time tcool and the radio luminosity LR, indicating a need for more powerful active galactic nuclei in clusters with short central cooling times.

A catalogue of radio supernova remnants and candidate supernova remnants in the EMU/POSSUM Galactic pilot field

ABSTRACT We use data from the pilot observations of the EMU/POSSUM surveys to study the ‘missing supernova remnant (SNR) problem’, the discrepancy between the number of Galactic SNRs that have been observed, and the number that are estimated to exist. The Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) and the Polarization Sky Survey of the Universe’s Magnetism (POSSUM) are radio sky surveys that are conducted using the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP). We report on the properties of seven known SNRs in the joint Galactic pilot field, with an approximate longitude and latitude of 323° ≤ l ≤ 330° and −4° ≤ b ≤ 2°, respectively, and identify 21 SNR candidates. Of these, four have been previously identified as SNR candidates, three were previously listed as a single SNR, 13 have not been previously studied, and one has been studied in the infrared. These are the first discoveries of Galactic SNR candidates with EMU/POSSUM and, if confirmed, they will increase the SNR density in this field by a factor of 4. By comparing our SNR candidates to the known Galactic SNR population, we demonstrate that many of these sources were likely missed in previous surveys due to their small angular size and/or low surface brightness. We suspect that there are SNRs in this field that remain undetected due to limitations set by the local background and confusion with other radio sources. The results of this paper demonstrate the potential of the full EMU/POSSUM surveys to uncover more of the missing Galactic SNR population.

Scalable precision wide-field imaging in radio interferometry: I. uSARA validated on ASKAP data

ABSTRACT As Part I of a paper series showcasing a new imaging framework, we consider the recently proposed unconstrained Sparsity Averaging Reweighted Analysis (uSARA) optimization algorithm for wide-field, high-resolution, high-dynamic range, monochromatic intensity imaging. We reconstruct images from real radio-interferometric observations obtained with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) and present these results in comparison to the widely used, state-of-the-art imager WSClean . Selected fields come from the ASKAP Early Science and Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) Pilot surveys and contain several complex radio sources: the merging cluster system Abell 3391-95, the merging cluster SPT-CL 2023-5535, and many extended, or bent-tail, radio galaxies, including the X-shaped radio galaxy PKS 2014-558 and ‘the dancing ghosts’, known collectively as PKS 2130-538. The modern framework behind uSARA utilizes parallelization and automation to solve for the w -effect and efficiently compute the measurement operator, allowing for wide-field reconstruction over the full field-of-view of individual ASKAP beams (up to ∼3.3° each). The precision capability of uSARA produces images with both super-resolution and enhanced sensitivity to diffuse components, surpassing traditional CLEAN algorithms that typically require a compromise between such yields. Our resulting monochromatic uSARA-ASKAP images of the selected data highlight both extended, diffuse emission and compact, filamentary emission at very high resolution (up to 2.2 arcsec), revealing never-before-seen structure. Here we present a validation of our uSARA-ASKAP images by comparing the morphology of reconstructed sources, measurements of diffuse flux, and spectral index maps with those obtained from images made with WSClean .

Radio galaxy zoo EMU: towards a semantic radio galaxy morphology taxonomy

ABSTRACT We present a novel natural language processing (NLP) approach to deriving plain English descriptors for science cases otherwise restricted by obfuscating technical terminology. We address the limitations of common radio galaxy morphology classifications by applying this approach. We experimentally derive a set of semantic tags for the Radio Galaxy Zoo EMU (Evolutionary Map of the Universe) project and the wider astronomical community. We collect 8486 plain English annotations of radio galaxy morphology, from which we derive a taxonomy of tags. The tags are plain English. The result is an extensible framework, which is more flexible, more easily communicated, and more sensitive to rare feature combinations, which are indescribable using the current framework of radio astronomy classifications.

A 600 kpc complex radio source at the center of Abell 3718 discovered by the EMU and POSSUM surveys

Context. Multifrequency studies of galaxy clusters are crucial for inferring their dynamical states and physics. Moreover, these studies allow us to investigate cluster-embedded sources, whose evolution is affected by the physical and dynamical condition of the cluster itself. So far, these kinds of studies have been preferentially conducted on clusters visible from the northern hemisphere due to the high-fidelity imaging capabilities of ground-based radio interferometers located there. Aims. In this paper, we conducted a multifrequency study of the poorly known galaxy cluster Abell 3718. We investigated the unknown origin of an extended radio source with a length of ∼612 kpc at 943 MHz detected in images from the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) and POlarisation Sky Survey of the Universe’s Magnetism (POSSUM) surveys. Methods. We analyzed optical and X-ray data to infer the dynamical state of the cluster and, in particular, the merger activity. We conducted a radio spectral index study from 943 MHz up to 9 GHz. We also evaluated the polarization properties of the brightest cluster-embedded sources to understand if they are related to the radio emission observed on larger scales. Results. The cluster appears to be in a relaxed dynamical state, but there is clear asymmetry of the X-ray surface brightness distribution perpendicular to the direction of the largest angular extension of the radio source. The morphology of the cluster radio emission observed from 900 MHz to 9 GHz shows a system composed of a northern compact radio source and a southern radio galaxy whose jets are bent in the direction of an ultra-steep (α ≈ 3.6), thin (few tens of kpc) arc of radio emission between the first two radio sources. The spectral index gradient along the radio source and the polarization images at high frequency suggest that the thin arc is an extension of the southern radio galaxy, which may have been energized by interacting with the X-ray gas. An additional structure extending to the northwest from the southern radio galaxy may be an unusual truncated radio jet that either failed to expand or faded away due to energy losses. Deeper X-ray and radio observations are needed to better constrain the physics at play in this cluster.

Identifying anomalous radio sources in the Evolutionary Map of the Universe Pilot Survey using a complexity-based approach

ABSTRACTThe Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) large-area radio continuum survey will detect tens of millions of radio galaxies, giving an opportunity for the detection of previously unknown classes of objects. To maximize the scientific value and make new discoveries, the analysis of these data will need to go beyond simple visual inspection. We propose the coarse-grained complexity, a simple scalar quantity relating to the minimum description length of an image that can be used to identify unusual structures. The complexity can be computed without reference to the broader sample or existing catalogue data, making the computation efficient on new surveys at very large scales (such as the full EMU survey). We apply our coarse-grained complexity measure to data from the EMU Pilot Survey to detect and confirm anomalous objects in this data set and produce an anomaly catalogue. Rather than work with existing catalogue data using a specific source detection algorithm, we perform a blind scan of the area, computing the complexity using a sliding square aperture. The effectiveness of the complexity measure for identifying anomalous objects is evaluated using crowd-sourced labels generated via the Zooniverse.org platform. We find that the complexity scan identifies unusual sources, such as odd radio circles, by partitioning on complexity. We achieve partitions where 5 per cent of the data is estimated to be 86 per cent complete, and 0.5 per cent is estimated to be 94 per cent pure, with respect to anomalies and use this to produce an anomaly catalogue.

Hydra II: Characterisation of Aegean, Caesar, ProFound, PyBDSF, and Selavy source finders

Abstract We present a comparison between the performance of a selection of source finders (SFs) using a new software tool called Hydra. The companion paper, Paper I, introduced the Hydra tool and demonstrated its performance using simulated data. Here we apply Hydra to assess the performance of different source finders by analysing real observational data taken from the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) Pilot Survey. EMU is a wide-field radio continuum survey whose primary goal is to make a deep ( $20\mu$ Jy/beam RMS noise), intermediate angular resolution ( $15^{\prime\prime}$ ), 1 GHz survey of the entire sky south of $+30^{\circ}$ declination, and expecting to detect and catalogue up to 40 million sources. With the main EMU survey it is highly desirable to understand the performance of radio image SF software and to identify an approach that optimises source detection capabilities. Hydra has been developed to refine this process, as well as to deliver a range of metrics and source finding data products from multiple SFs. We present the performance of the five SFs tested here in terms of their completeness and reliability statistics, their flux density and source size measurements, and an exploration of case studies to highlight finder-specific limitations.

Measuring photometric redshifts for high-redshift radio source surveys

Abstract With the advent of deep, all-sky radio surveys, the need for ancillary data to make the most of the new, high-quality radio data from surveys like the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU), GaLactic and Extragalactic All-sky Murchison Widefield Array survey eXtended, Very Large Array Sky Survey, and LOFAR Two-metre Sky Survey is growing rapidly. Radio surveys produce significant numbers of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) and have a significantly higher average redshift when compared with optical and infrared all-sky surveys. Thus, traditional methods of estimating redshift are challenged, with spectroscopic surveys not reaching the redshift depth of radio surveys, and AGNs making it difficult for template fitting methods to accurately model the source. Machine Learning (ML) methods have been used, but efforts have typically been directed towards optically selected samples, or samples at significantly lower redshift than expected from upcoming radio surveys. This work compiles and homogenises a radio-selected dataset from both the northern hemisphere (making use of Sloan Digital Sky Survey optical photometry) and southern hemisphere (making use of Dark Energy Survey optical photometry). We then test commonly used ML algorithms such as k-Nearest Neighbours (kNN), Random Forest, ANNz, and GPz on this monolithic radio-selected sample. We show that kNN has the lowest percentage of catastrophic outliers, providing the best match for the majority of science cases in the EMU survey. We note that the wider redshift range of the combined dataset used allows for estimation of sources up to $z = 3$ before random scatter begins to dominate. When binning the data into redshift bins and treating the problem as a classification problem, we are able to correctly identify $\approx$ 76% of the highest redshift sources—sources at redshift $z > 2.51$ —as being in either the highest bin ( $z > 2.51$ ) or second highest ( $z = 2.25$ ).

Astronomical source detection in radio continuum maps with deep neural networks

Source finding is one of the most challenging tasks in upcoming radio continuum surveys with SKA precursors, such as the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) survey of the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope. The resolution, sensitivity, and sky coverage of such surveys is unprecedented, requiring new features and improvements to be made in existing source finders. Among them, reducing the false detection rate, particularly in the Galactic plane, and the ability to associate multiple disjoint islands into physical objects. To bridge this gap, we developed a new source finder, based on the Mask R-CNN object detection framework, capable of both detecting and classifying compact, extended, spurious, and poorly imaged sources in radio continuum images. The model was trained using ASKAP EMU data, observed during the Early Science and pilot survey phase, and previous radio survey data, taken with the VLA and ATCA telescopes. On the test sample, the final model achieves an overall detection completeness above 85%, a reliability of ∼65%, and a classification precision/recall above 90%. Results obtained for all source classes are reported and discussed.

The EMU view of the Large Magellanic Cloud: troubles for sub-TeV WIMPs

We present a radio search for WIMP dark matter in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC).We make use of a recent deep image of the LMC obtained from observations of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP), and processed as part of the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) survey.LMC is an extremely promising target for WIMP searches at radio frequencies because of the large J-factor and the presence of a substantial magnetic field.We detect no evidence for emission arising from WIMP annihilations and derive stringent bounds on the annihilation rate as a function of the WIMP mass, for different annihilation channels. This work excludes the thermal cross section for masses below 480 GeV and annihilation into quarks.

Determination of Planetary Nebulae angular diameters from radio continuum spectral energy distribution modelling

ABSTRACT Powerful new, high-resolution, high-sensitivity, multifrequency, wide-field radio surveys such as the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) Evolutionary Map of the Universe are emerging. They will offer fresh opportunities to undertake new determinations of useful parameters for various kinds of extended astrophysical phenomena. Here, we consider specific application to angular-size determinations of Planetary Nebulae (PNe) via a new radio continuum spectral energy distribution fitting technique. We show that robust determinations of angular size can be obtained, comparable to the best optical and radio observations but with the potential for consistent application across the population. This includes unresolved and/or heavily obscured PNe that are extremely faint or even non-detectable in the optical.

Evolutionary map of the Universe (EMU): Compact radio sources in the scorpio field towards the galactic plane

ABSTRACT We present observations of a region of the Galactic plane taken during the Early Science Program of the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP). In this context, we observed the scorpio field at 912 MHz with an uncompleted array consisting of 15 commissioned antennas. The resulting map covers a square region of ∼40 deg2, centred on (l, b) = (343.5°, 0.75°), with a synthesized beam of 24 × 21 arcsec2 and a background rms noise of 150–200 μJy beam−1, increasing to 500–600 μJy beam−1 close to the Galactic plane. A total of 3963 radio sources were detected and characterized in the field using the caesar source finder. We obtained differential source counts in agreement with previously published data after correction for source extraction and characterization uncertainties, estimated from simulated data. The ASKAP positional and flux density scale accuracy were also investigated through comparison with previous surveys (MGPS, NVSS) and additional observations of the scorpio field, carried out with ATCA at 2.1 GHz and 10 arcsec spatial resolution. These allowed us to obtain a measurement of the spectral index for a subset of the catalogued sources and an estimated fraction of (at least) 8 per cent of resolved sources in the reported catalogue. We cross-matched our catalogued sources with different astronomical data bases to search for possible counterparts, finding ∼150 associations to known Galactic objects. Finally, we explored a multiparametric approach for classifying previously unreported Galactic sources based on their radio-infrared colours.

The Evolutionary Map of the Universe pilot survey

AbstractWe present the data and initial results from the first pilot survey of the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU), observed at 944 MHz with the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope. The survey covers$270 \,\mathrm{deg}^2$of an area covered by the Dark Energy Survey, reaching a depth of 25–30$\mu\mathrm{Jy\ beam}^{-1}$rms at a spatial resolution of$\sim$11–18 arcsec, resulting in a catalogue of$\sim$220 000 sources, of which$\sim$180 000 are single-component sources. Here we present the catalogue of single-component sources, together with (where available) optical and infrared cross-identifications, classifications, and redshifts. This survey explores a new region of parameter space compared to previous surveys. Specifically, the EMU Pilot Survey has a high density of sources, and also a high sensitivity to low surface brightness emission. These properties result in the detection of types of sources that were rarely seen in or absent from previous surveys. We present some of these new results here.

SPT-CL J2032–5627: A new Southern double relic cluster observed with ASKAP

AbstractWe present a radio and X-ray analysis of the galaxy cluster SPT-CL J2032–5627. Investigation of public data from the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) at 943 MHz shows two previously undetected radio relics at either side of the cluster. For both relic sources, we utilise archival Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) data at 5.5 GHz in conjunction with the new ASKAP data to determine that both have steep integrated radio spectra ($\ensuremath{{\alpha_\mathrm{SE} = -1.52 \pm 0.10}}$and$\ensuremath{{\alpha_\mathrm{NW,full} = -1.18 \pm 0.10}}$for the southeast and northwest relic sources, respectively). No shock is seen in XMM-Newtonobservations; however, the southeast relic is preceded by a cold front in the X-ray–emitting intra-cluster medium. We suggest the lack of a detectable shock may be due to instrumental limitations, comparing the situation to the southeast relic in Abell 3667. We compare the relics to the population of double relic sources and find that they are located below the current power–mass scaling relation. We present an analysis of the low-surface brightness sensitivity of ASKAP and the ATCA, the excellent sensitivity of both allow the ability to find heretofore undetected diffuse sources, suggesting these low-power radio relics will become more prevalent in upcoming large-area radio surveys such as the Evolutionary Map of the Universe.

The ASKAP EMU Early Science Project: radio continuum survey of the Small Magellanic Cloud

ABSTRACT We present two new radio continuum images from the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) survey in the direction of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC). These images are part of the Evolutionary Map of the Universe (EMU) Early Science Project (ESP) survey of the Small and Large Magellanic Clouds. The two new source lists produced from these images contain radio continuum sources observed at 960 MHz (4489 sources) and 1320 MHz (5954 sources) with a bandwidth of 192 MHz and beam sizes of 30.0 × 30.0 arcsec2 and 16.3 × 15.1 arcsec2, respectively. The median root mean square (RMS) noise values are 186 $\mu$Jy beam−1 (960 MHz) and 165 $\mu$Jy beam−1 (1320 MHz). To create point source catalogues, we use these two source lists, together with the previously published Molonglo Observatory Synthesis Telescope (MOST) and the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA) point source catalogues to estimate spectral indices for the whole population of radio point sources found in the survey region. Combining our ASKAP catalogues with these radio continuum surveys, we found 7736 point-like sources in common over an area of 30 deg2. In addition, we report the detection of two new, low surface brightness supernova remnant candidates in the SMC. The high sensitivity of the new ASKAP ESP survey also enabled us to detect the bright end of the SMC planetary nebula sample, with 22 out of 102 optically known planetary nebulae showing point-like radio continuum emission. Lastly, we present several morphologically interesting background radio galaxies.