Mysteries of universe in focus for South African mega telescope
South African officials and scientists on Monday celebrated a milestone towards building the world's largest radio astronomy instrument, which is co-hosted with Australia and aims to unlock mysteries of the universe.
The construction launch outside the remote town of Carnarvon, Northern Cape, marks the next phase of developing a complex instrument aimed at revealing events since the cosmic dawn, when the first stars and galaxies were formed.
South Africa said it will add 133 dishes to its 64-dish MeerKAT radio telescope to create SKA-Mid in the next phase of developing a so-called Square Kilometre Array (SKA).
"Today has huge significance for all of us ... working towards building a large, exploratory instrument that can serve our community and advance a number of scientific frontiers," Joseph McMullin, deputy director-general at the SKA Observatory (SKAO) intergovernmental organisation said.
MeerKAT, which will be incorporated into SKA-Mid, has delivered images of phenomena including stellar nurseries and the chaotic region around the supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy, some 25,000 light-years from earth.
Chosen for its remoteness, with hills providing an extra shield against radio interference, the vast protected reserve around Carnarvon is the main African base for hundreds of antennae that could eventually be sited as far afield as Kenya and Ghana.
The dishes are designed to connect with each other to form one giant telescope and with the new additions, expected to be operational by 2030, enhanced image clarity and resolution.
While tripling the number of dishes at MeerKAT to form a mid-frequency instrument, Australia will host a low-frequency telescope array of 131,072 antennae, each two metres tall and resembling Christmas trees, officials said.
Comments
Projects
Latest Multimedia
Latest News
Showroom
M and J Mining are leading suppliers of physical support systems as used by the underground mining industry. Our selection of products are not...
VISIT SHOWROOM
SmartMine IoT has been developed with the mining industry in mind, to provides our customers with powerful business intelligence and data modelling...
VISIT SHOWROOM
Press Office
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation
