We are aiming at the stars, says Mabuza at the launch of MeerKAT



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The MeerKAT is now the largest radio telescope in the world and is a forerunner of Square Kilometer Array (SKA), under the Department of Science and Technology.

It will later be integrated into the SKA, which will be 50 to 100 times more sensitive than any other radio telescope.

"The SKA should address fundamental questions about the universe, including how the first stars and galaxies were formed," spokesman Lorenzo Raynard said. "We wanted to show the scientific capabilities of this new instrument," said Fernando Camilo, Scientific Director of the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), which built and operates MeerKAT. The galaxy was an obvious target: unique, visually striking and full of unexplained phenomena – but also notoriously difficult to image with the help of radio telescopes. "

The center of the Milky Way is 25,000 lumens T-years away from Earth and because it lies behind the constellation Sagittarius (the" Teapot "), it is still obscured by gas and the dust, making it "invisible to the Earth using ordinary telescopes." MeerKAT, and much remains to be optimized, we decided to go there and we were stunned by the results, "said Camilo [19659005] (function (d, s, id) {
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