South African officials and scientists on Monday celebrated a milestone in the construction of the world’s largest radio astronomy instrument, which is co-hosted with Australia and aims to unlock the mysteries of the universe.
The construction launch on the outskirts of the remote Northern Cape town of Carnarvon marks the next phase of development of a complex instrument aimed at revealing events from the cosmic dawn, when the first stars and galaxies formed.
South Africa said it will add 133 antennas to its 64-antenna MeerKAT radio telescope to create SKA-Mid in the next phase of development of the so-called Square Kilometer Array (SKA).
“Today has great meaning for all of us…working to build a great exploratory instrument that can serve our community and advance a number of scientific frontiers,” said Joseph McMullin, deputy director general of the intergovernmental organization SKA. Observatory (SKAO).
MeerKAT, which will be incorporated into SKA-Mid, has provided images of phenomena including stellar nurseries and the chaotic region around the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy, some 25,000 light-years from Earth.
Chosen for its remoteness, with hills providing an additional shield against radio interference, the vast protected reserve around Carnarvon is the main African base for hundreds of antennas that could eventually be located as far away as Kenya and Ghana.
The dishes are designed to connect together to form one giant telescope and with the new additions, expected to be operational by 2030, improve image clarity and resolution.
By tripling the number of dishes on MeerKAT to form a medium-frequency instrument, Australia will host a low-frequency telescope array of 131,072 antennas, each two meters tall and resembling Christmas trees, officials said.
