A multi-night image of the SKA combining all the elements in South Africa and Australia. Seo … [+]
SKAO, ICRAR, SARAO Acknowledgments: GLEAM view of the Milky Way medium, in radio color. Credit: Natasha Hurley-Walker (Curtin / ICRAR) and GLEAM Team.
Are you ready for one of the “great scientific events of the coming decades”?
Construction of the world’s largest and most complex radio telescope network officially began today in what is being described as “a historic moment for radio astronomy. ”
Designed to help astronauts answer some of astronomy’s most fundamental questions, the Square Square Observatory (SKAO) was approved today at its first council meeting at its headquarters in Jodrell Bank, Cheshire. in the UK. Jodrell Bank is home to the Lovell Telescope, the third largest steerable radio telescope in the world.
SKA is going to cost $ 2.2 billion – and it’s going to change astronomy.
What is radio astronomy?
It is the study of the skies in radio frequencies. Stars, galaxies and other cosmic onions emit – waves of light. Visible light is electromagnetic radiation, and contains radio waves, gamma rays, X-rays, and infrared. So to get a full picture of what ‘s out there astronauts have to use radio telescopes to detect and amplify radio waves from space.
What is the SKA?
A true “mega-science” project for the 21st century, the SKA is an amazing field. So big, of course, that it will see radio receivers on two continents and take ten years to build.
The hardware is built far from electronics or human devices that emit radio waves.
At Karoo in northern South Africa, 197 parabolic radio antennas – better known as “vessels” – will be built, each 50 feet / 15 meters in diameter. The South African Radio Astronomical Observatory (SARAO) has already built 64 of them.
Meanwhile, deep in the Murchison Revolution of Western Australia, telescopes of a low-frequency aperture array of 131,072 6.5 feet / 2 meters will be built.
This will create a collection point across two continents that allows very weak radio signals to be detected.
Why not make just one big dish? That’s not practical, so an astronaut uses something called transition– much smaller antennas connected by optical fiber to create a “virtual” telescope called range. The result is more sensitivity and a more delicate solution.
Artist’s impression of one of Australia’s low frequency series stations.
Organization of SKA
How sensitive will SKA be?
The SKA will have a total assembly area of more than one square kilometer – hence the name – making it the largest radio telescope range ever built.
The SKA will be so sensitive that it would be able to detect airport radar on a planet of light decades away, according to the SKAO.
It is hoped that the size and sensitivity of the SKA will reveal many more radio galleries – and change our understanding of how galleries grow.
It is also hoped that the SKA will be able to map dark energy, find all pulsars in our galaxy and pick up any signals from intelligent life.
A close-up artist’s impression of the SKA-Mid and MeerKAT vessels in South Africa. The 15m … [+]
Organization of SKA
How important is SKA?
“This is a historic time for radio astronomy,” said Dr Catherine Cesarsky, who has been named the first Chair of the SKAO Council. “Behind today’s milestone, there are countries that had the vision to make a big difference as they saw the wider benefits that participation in SKAO would bring to a science ecosystem. and build technology including basic research, computing, engineering and skills for the next generation. , which is essential in a 21st century digital economy. ”
Many countries fund the SKAO; Australia, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, South Africa and the United Kingdom. France, Germany, Spain and Sweden are progressive members.
“This is one of the mega-science facilities of the 21st century,” he said. Philip Diamond, named the first CEO of SKAO. “This is the result of many years of work… this is about taking part in one of the major scientific events of the coming decades.”
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.