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Carnarvon – A science mega-project to unlock cosmic enigmas of dark energy to the detection of extraterrestrial life was stimulated on Friday when the 64-antenna MeerKAT telescope was inaugurated in the remote Carnarvon . MeerKAT will be integrated with the complex Square Kilometer Array (SKA) instrument that, once fully operational in the late 2020s, will be the largest and most powerful radio telescope in the world.
Up to 3,000 dishes co Astronomers from Africa and Australia will then scan the sky 10,000 times faster with 50 times the sensitivity of any other telescope and produce images that exceed the resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope, according to SKA scientists
"MeerKAT will address some of the key scientific issues of modern astrophysics – how did the galaxies form , how are they evolving, how did we come here … and for these purposes, MeerKAT is the best in the world "Fernando Camilo, chief scientist at the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory who built and operates the telescope.
At an inauguration attended by government officials and foreign dignitaries, Camilo released new images taken by MeerKAT, the center of the Milky Way, some 25,000 light-years away [19659002] "Nou We did not expect to use our telescope as early in the game, it's not even optimized, but to turn it to the center of the galaxy and get those amazing images, the best in the world, tells you that you have does something good, better than just, "he told Reuters.
MeerKAT is a follow-up of KAT 7 (Karoo Array Telescope), built in the vast semi-desert Karoo Region north of Carnarvon to demonstrate the country's ability to host SKA. His name is a play on words: in Afrikaans, "meer" means "plus", as in "more KAT", but it also refers to the small mammal native of Karoo and famous for his hind legs to see the world.
In addition to groundbreaking research in astronomy, MeerKAT is pushing the boundaries of big data and high performance computing, helping IBM to develop systems capable of handling the staggering amount of data transmitted by each antenna to buried supercomputers underground.
The largest radio telescope of this type in the southern hemisphere, MeerKAT looks like a cluster of eggs when you see it for the first time an hour away from Carnarvon
. as high as a three-story building, turning on a fixed pedestal while it sweeps the sky. Chosen because of its remoteness, with hills providing an additional shield against radio interference, the project site is the main African base for hundreds of antennas that will eventually be placed up to Kenya and South Africa. in Ghana.
"The first phase of SKA 1 in South Africa is to add 133 antennas to that (of MeerKAT)," said Rob Adam, a member of the SKA International Board of Directors.
The expansion is expected to begin next year, said Adam, with the first prototype built in China on the site about 450 kilometers north of Carnarvon in the Northern Cape province. MeerKAT will work independently before being incorporated into SKA 1 around 2023, said Adam.
Reuters
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