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2001.com.ve | EFE
South African scientists have revealed the clearest image ever taken of the center of the Milky Way, occupied by a huge black hole thanks to a new radio telescope called MeerKAT
"The The center of the galaxy C was an obvious goal: unique, visually striking and full of unexplained phenomena, but it is notoriously difficult to be photographed with radio telescopes, "said Fernando Camilo, scientific director of the 39. South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO).
The center of the Milky Way is 25,000 light-years from Earth behind the constellation Sagittarius, and is constantly enveloped in clouds of gas and dust, making it makes our planet invisible to normal telescopes.
However, infrared technology, X-rays and radio waves can penetrate obstacles and "open a window" to the black hole of 4 million solar masses (a solar mass is a unit of measurement equivalent to the mass of the Sun. ) located in the center of the galaxy.
The image released today by the South African team covers an area of 1000 years light for 500 light years, with a clear region at its center that corresponds to the center of the galaxy .
"Although this is the first few days with the MeerKAT and there is a lot to optimize, we decided to go there and we marveled at results," said Camilo, according to the text released by the SKA project Africa, dedicated to the construction of radio telescopes.
The SKA, which is part of the MeerKAT, is a project in which they participate Eleven countries – Germany, Australia, Canada, China, Holland, India, Italy, New Zealand, United Kingdom, South Africa and Sweden – and in which collaborate about twenty others, including Spain.
The goal is to build in Australia and South Africa the world's largest radio telescope, which will be able to capture images with 50 times higher resolution than those taken by Hubble, in what is the # 39, one of the greatest scientific and technological challenges in history.
The MeerKAT, whose construction lasted a decade and is one of the precursors of the SKA. It was officially inaugurated today at a ceremony attended by Vice President of South Africa, David Mabuza, and the semi-arid Karoo region.
It is currently the most powerful telescope in the southern hemisphere of the planet and has 64 parabolic dishes of 13.5 meters in diameter each.
2018-07-13
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