S. Africa, Australasia to host SKA

The three countries provide the best location for the 1.5bn-euro Square Kilometre Array (SKA) since they afford the best view of the Milky Way and host the least radio interference.

The radio telescope will probe the early Universe, test Einstein’s theory of gravity and search for alien intelligent life.

The SKA will combine the signals received by thousands of small antennas spread over a distance of more than 3,000 km and create a superscope with remarkable sensitivity and resolution.

It will target radio sources in the sky that radiate at centimeter to meter wavelengths such as clouds of hydrogen gas in the infant Universe that collapsed to form the very first stars and galaxies.

Mapping the positions of the nearest galaxies, gathering new data on ‘dark energy’, and detailing the influence of magnetic fields on the development of stars and galaxies will be among the many abilities of the telescope.

The SKA will also zoom in on pulsars, the highly magnetized, rotating neutron stars that emit beams electromagnetic radiation.

The SKA project is a global collaboration of 20 countries aimed to provide answers to fundamental questions about the origin and evolution of the Universe.

Construction of the SKA is scheduled to begin in 2016 for initial observations by 2019 and full operation by 2024.

Members of the SKA Organization are Australia, Canada, China, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, the Netherlands, and the UK.

TE/TE

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