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London: A new network of telescopes will allow astronomers to scan space deeper than ever, to see the first stars and galaxies appear.
A network of 77 devices that detect low-frequency radio signals dating from the beginning of the life of the universe is being built across Europe.
Astronomers hope their observations will help them understand how stars and galaxies formed from the cloud of cold gas that made up the universe after the Big Bang.
Telescopes will also allow them to scan large parts of the sky in a single night, increasing the chances of spotting previously invisible objects.
According to current theories, the Big Bang created a soup of primordial matter that gradually cooled over millions of years, leaving the universe dark and cold until, after several hundred million years, the first atoms begin to form and give rise to stars and black holes. , events that emitted radio waves.
An earlier generation of radio telescopes are already looking for high frequency waves and have been responsible for the discovery of pulsar and quasar stars.
But low-frequency radio waves can travel much further, which means the new network, called Lofar (low-frequency network), will see more distant events, which date from earlier in the expanding universe.
Distant galaxies
Project leader Professor Rob Fender, astronomer at the University of Southampton, said: ‘Low-frequency radio waves allow us to see through interstellar gas that obscures much of the more distant parts of the universe, we will therefore be able to detect the most distant galaxies. “
Construction of Britain’s first Lofar telescope has just been completed in Chilbolton, Oxfordshire, and there are plans to build four more in Edinburgh, Cambridge and Jodrell Bank outside Manchester.
There are 48 others already built or nearing completion elsewhere in Europe. Each consists of a series of antennas installed in a field.
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