By Maxwell Awumah
Ho, March 23, GNA – The first image from the international SKA (Square Kilometre Array) Observatory’s telescope in Australia, SKA-Low, has released a significant milestone in its quest to reveal an unparalleled view of the Universe.
It is the first image from an early working version of the SKA-Low telescope, using just 1,024 of the planned 131,072 antennas, and an exciting indication of the scientific revelations that will be possible with the world’s most powerful radio observatory.
SKA-Low, is one of two telescopes under construction by the SKA Observatory (SKAO), co-hosted in Australia and South Africa on behalf of its member states and the global community.
The image shows an area of sky of about 25 square degrees, equivalent to approximately 100 full Moons and in it, around 85 of the brightest known galaxies in that region, all of which contains supermassive black holes can be seen.
When complete, the same area of sky will reveal much more, as scientists have calculated that the telescope would be sensitive enough to show more than 600,000 galaxies in the same frame.
The image was produced using data collected from the first four connected SKA-Low stations, which together comprise the first 1,024 of SKA-Low’s two-metre-tall metal antennas and they were installed over the past year at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory on Wajarri Yamaji Country, which account for less than one per cent of the full telescope.
Dr George Heald, the SKA-Low Lead Commissioning Scientist, said he was delighted to see how well the first four stations were working together.
“The quality of this image was even beyond what we hoped for using such an early version of the telescope,” Dr Heald said.
He said “The bright galaxies we can see in this image are just the tip of iceberg. With the full telescope we will have the sensitivity to reveal the faintest and most distant galaxies, back to the early Universe when the first stars and galaxies started to form.
This is technically difficult work and the first step to unlocking the awesome science that will be possible.”
Dr Sarah Pearce, the SKA-Low Telescope Director, said the team had achieved stellar results attributing the success as the culmination of effort from many talented and committed people across teams, organisations and continents.
“Getting to this point has taken engineers, astronomers and computer scientists from all over the world, working for decades. It’s amazing to see all this work come together to give our first glimpse of the brilliant images that will come from SKA-Low, promising us a view of the Universe we’ve never seen before,” she said.
The SKA telescopes – SKA-Low in remote Western Australia and its counterpart SKA-Mid in South Africa’s Northern Cape – are arrays that combine the data captured by individual antennas spread over large distances, working together as one big telescope.
Professor Philip Diamond, the SKAO Director-General said the image illustrated the dawn of the Observatory as a science facility.
He said with this image they deemed it as a promise of the SKA Observatory, as it opened its eyes to the Universe.
“This first image is a critical step for the Observatory, and for the astronomy community; we are demonstrating that the system is working. As the telescopes grow, and more stations and dishes come online, we’ll see the images improve in leaps and bounds and start to realise the full power of the SKAO,” he said.
The SKA telescopes are being constructed in stages, with components coming from SKAO member countries around the world.
In Australia, SKA-Low is being built in collaboration with Australia’s national science agency, CSIRO. It will scale significantly to become the world’s largest low-frequency radio telescope within the next two years, part way through construction.
The SKAO recognises and acknowledges the Indigenous peoples and cultures that have traditionally lived on the lands on which our facilities are located. This data was obtained at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory. The SKAO and CSIRO acknowledge the Wajarri Yamaji as the Traditional Owners and Native Title Holders of the observatory site.
The SKAO is an intergovernmental organisation composed of Member States and partner organisations from five continents, headquartered in the UK.
Its mission is to build and operate cutting-edge radio telescopes to transform our understanding of the Universe and deliver benefits to society through global collaboration and innovation. Its two telescopes, under construction in Australia and South Africa, will be the two most advanced radio telescopes on Earth.
Together with other state-of-the-art research facilities, the SKAO’s telescopes will explore the unknown frontiers of science and deepen our understanding of key processes, including the formation and evolution of galaxies, fundamental physics in extreme environments and the origins of life.
Through the development of innovative technologies and its contribution to addressing societal challenges, the SKAO will play its part to address the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and deliver significant benefits across its membership and beyond.
GNA
MA/CAA