[ad_1]
South Africa unveiled on Friday a super MeerKAT radio telescope in the remote and semi-desert Karoo site. The radio telescope is composed of 64 antennas, making it the largest and most powerful telescope in the southern hemisphere.
The MeerKAT telescope is part of a much larger project. It will be integrated into a network of square kilometers (SKA) which will be the most powerful radio telescope system in the world. SKA will have 3000 dishes worldwide and will be 50 times more powerful than any other telescope. Once fully operational, the telescope will fetch signals from exploding stars, black holes and dark energy and detect traces of the origins of the universe. SKA is expected to become operational by 2030.
"The telescope will be the largest of its kind in the world – with a quality of image resolution exceeding the Hubble Space Telescope by a factor of 50-fold", said David Mabuza, the deputy. The President of South Africa "This day represents some important milestones in Africa … in our quest to catch up with the rest of the world and make our own contribution to civilization."
MeerKAT will allow astronomers to deepen space and revolutionize their understanding of the universe will detect radio waves with unmatched sensitivity and unravel some of the greatest mysteries of the world. Universe like dark energy and dark matter.
"MeerKAT will address some of the astrophysical science questions – how did the galaxies form, how do they evolve, how did we come here … and for these purposes, MeerKAT is the best in the world." Fernando Camilo , chief scientist of the South African Observatory of Radio Astronomy said in a statement
Friday's unveiling ceremony also showed a panoramic image taken by the MeerKAT telescope. is still the clearest view of the black hole at the center of our Milky Way galaxy
"We wanted to show the scientific capabilities of this new instrument," said Camilo. "The center of the galaxy was an obvious target: unique, visually striking and full of phenomenon explained – but also notoriously difficult to image using radio telescopes. "
Source link
