South Africa celebrates the completion of the gigantic super sensitive telescope

together, celebrating the official opening of a gigantic telescope that is already transforming astronomical research into the nation.

A ceremony that was broadcast live on national television channels on July 13 from an isolated site in the province of MeerKATT radio telescope, which was designed and funded by Africa's South.

64 antennas each 13.5 meters in diameter, MeerKAT is the most sensitive telescope of its kind in the world.

The 4.4 billion rand project ($ 330 million) will be part of a future intercontinental facility called Square Kilometer Array (SKA), which "With this new instrument, South Africa is about to be at the forefront of astronomy and data science, "said Phil Diamond, chief executive of SKA Organization, at the launch. "The anticipated success of SKA is largely based on the MeerKAT."

David Mabuza, vice president of the country, attended the ceremony, with many members of his cabinet, including the current Minister of Science and four former science ministers. lead the project.

"MeerKAT is an iconic instrument," said Mabuza. "We are proud that a project of this magnitude has been completed on time, in the planned budget."

Pictured Milky Way

Portions of MeerKAT are collecting data since their erection in 2016. At the ceremony, scientists unveiled an image made using all 64 dishes: l & # 39; The most detailed radio image of the center of the Milky Way, which contains a supermbadive black hole (see photo above).

MeerKAT should be completely scientific in the coming months; two projects, one dealing with fleeting astronomical events known as transients, and another on the abundance of hydrogen in galaxies, are already underway. The transients include fast radio bursts, which can last a few seconds and are one of the most complex phenomena of astronomy, while astronomers are interested in hydrogen as the ## EQU1 ## 39 abundant element is the fuel of the stars, among others, and can be used to trace the history of the universe.

MeerKAT uses a technique called interferometry in which many vessels or antennas act together as a single telescope. Each antenna collects relatively weak radio signals from space, which must be combined, filtered and transformed into useful data for astronomers.

Ambitions of Astronomy

The project stimulated the country's astronomical ambitions, which take advantage of conditions in places like the North Cape, a sparsely populated area selected for its reliable sky without clouds. These ambitions – and the attractiveness of SKA – have already attracted astronomers, engineers and data specialists from around the world. Many of his research chairs at SKA and Astronomy – university positions in research and postgraduate training – have been contracted to foreign scientists or have attracted local scientists from other countries. "MeerKAT is what attracted me to South Africa," says Fernando Camilo, chief scientist at the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory, who left the United States in 2016 to join the project. MeerKAT. In the early 2000s, before the country threw its hat on the ring to host the SKA and began a concerted effort to develop its base of astronomers-researchers, there were about 10 dedicated radio astronomers, says Justin Jonas, Chief technologist at the Radioastronomy Observatory of South Africa and a first pilot of the SKA project in South Africa. Many of its universities now have strong radio astronomy groups. "Back in the day, our astronomers went abroad to do astronomy, now we are the attraction," he says.

Scientists and officials expect MeerKAT to continue to raise the profile of South African science. For now, scientists are eager to get their hands on MeerKAT data "Provisional data is better than we expected," says Michael Kramer, director of the Max-Institute. Planck für Radioastronomie in Germany, involved in transient and pulsar research project using MeerKAT.

He says some of his colleagues have moved to South Africa to be part of the project, while others are traveling regularly. "MeerKAT will host eight" big survey "projects, some led by South Africans, and others by foreign scientists, each of whom has devoted more than 1,000 hours of observation time over five years. half of them will study hydrogen, says Camilo.The remaining observation time, about a third, will be attributed to astronomers worldwide through an open call.

The 64 dishes MeerKAT will eventually be absorbed in the first phase of the SKA, which will include 130 other dishes in South Africa and up to 130,000 antennas in Australia.The construction is expected to begin in 2020.