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Now we are able to see the Milky Way like never before while the South African telescope captures the spectacular appearance of the supermbadive A black hole at the heart of our galaxy
With the new radio telescope of South Africa, the researchers released a stunning image of the center of the galaxy, which offers an extraordinary look at the area surrounding its supermbadive black hole.
The 64-Dish MeerKAT telescope was installed Friday after a decade in strategy and construction, and it has already demonstrated its incredible capabilities.
A striking new image captures 25,000 light-years away from Earth as it turns through dust clouds The chief scientist of the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), Fernando Camilo, says: " We wanted to show the scientific capabilities of this new device.The center of the galaxy was a clear goal: full of unique, visible and ambiguous events, but it is notoriously difficult for the image of the camera. Using the radio telescope Although in the early days of MeerKAT, and many more needs to be adapted, we decided to go there – and were afraid of the result ".
The center of the galaxy is incredibly difficult to photograph, not only because it is 25,000 light-years away, but also because it is located behind the constellation Sagittarius and that it is constantly surrounded by clouds of gas and dust. The optical telescope is invisible from the Earth.
see through the thick dust, X-rays and radio wave lengths are more widely able to see. MeerKAT can detect the radio wave lengths that make these clouds spin. In addition, its location in the southern hemisphere means that the center of the galaxy pbades through the top and appears for nearly 12 hours each day. It is more sensitive than comparative telescopes, because of its high number of antennas, allows the MeerKAT to provide the unique view of the universe ..
At this time the colors mean the colorless. glare of the radio waves taken by the telescope: discharges from red to orange and from yellow to white through oranges for a robust emanation.
Farhad Yusef-Zadeh of Evanston Northwestern University says: " This image is remarkable.There is such clarity in the image of MeerKAT that it shows many movies, which include compact sources badociated with a few filaments, that can provide the key to decipher the code and solve this three-decade puzzle ". In fact, the MeerKAT radio telescope was inaugurated by David Mabuza, Vice President of the Republic of South Africa on July 13th.
There are 64 receivers or antennas with four receivers working on different radio bands. The data can be processed at a speed of 275 gigabytes per second.
Built at a price of $ 4.4 billion, MeerKAT will be included in the compound of the Square Kilometer Array Apparatus (SKA), which will be the largest and most influential in the world. radio-telescope, which will fully operate in the second half of 2020.
3,000 dishes in Africa and Australia will then be scanned 50 times faster than any other telescopic sensor and will produce more images than the quality of resolution Hubble The Space Telescope, says SKA scientists .
Fernando Camilo said: " MeerKAT will address some major scientific issues in modern astrophysics – how galaxies are created, how they evolve, how we came here … MeerKAT for these purposes is the best in the world ".
Government officials and foreign dignitaries participated in the inauguration, released new images taken by the MeerKAT of the supermbadive black area
Camilo told Reuters " We did not expect to use our telescope so early in the game, it's not too friendly, but rather to transform it in the center of the galaxy and receive these amazing images, the best in the world, tells you that you did something perfect, better than perfect . "
Merkatat follows up on KAT7 (Karoo Array Telescope), which is designed to show the ability to host SKA in South Africa in the vast semi-desert region in northern Cape .
His name is a play on words: the African "Meer" means more, as in "MeerKAT", but it also refers to the native of the crew and is famous for seeing the world stand on its feet back [19659006
In addition to revolutionary astronomical research, MeerKAT also pushes the boundaries of greater computing and high performance with the choice of IBM, through which deep underground supercomputers have been powered from each antenna to limit the radio. interference. It helps to develop a system capable of manipulating the encircled data volume
The MeerKAT is the first radio-telescope of this type in the southern hemisphere, even though it appears as a group d & rsquo; Eggs when you see an hour drive outside the Carnarvon Q.
So close that each sensitive dish is high as a nearly three-story building, which swirls on some pedestal because it sweep the sky.
With the hills providing additional shields against radio interference, chosen because of its remoteness, the project site is the main African base for hundreds of antennas that will eventually be retained in Kenya and Ghana [19659033]. Rob Adam said: " The first phase of SKA1 in South Africa is to add 133 antennas of MeerKAT ".
With the first prototype made in China on the site already 450 km north of Cape Town, in the northern province of Nepali, Adam said that expansion is expected to begin next year [19659008] Adam said MeerKAT will work independently before joining SKA1 around 2023 . South African Way Telescope
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