The aimed lifespan for the SKAO will be fifty years, in which astronomers hope to find answers to crucial questions such as: will Albert Einstein’s theory of general relativity also hold in extreme environments and help date when and how the stars began to shine after the Big Bang.
Both radio telescopes have been designed as interferometers, which means that the signals of multiple telescopes can be combined to function as a one giant telescope. Together, these two radio telescopes will form the world’s largest and most capable radio astronomy instrument, which will be managed from SKAO-headquarters at Jodrell Bank near Manchester (UK). In Australia, the native title holders and Traditional Owners of the SKA-Low site – the Wajarri Yamaji – conducted a traditional Welcome to Country.
In South Africa, a group of dancers from the area performed a special ‘meerkat’ version of the ancient riel dance at the first SKA dish foundation. Both construction sites were officially declared open for construction by their national science ministers. SKAO Council Chair Dr Catherine Cesarsky travelled to the Northern Cape province, to represent the Observatory at the site of the future SKA-Mid telescope in South Africa Director-General Prof Phil Diamond attended a similar ceremony in Western Australia, where the SKA-Low telescope will be constructed. Artist's impression of the SKA-Low antennas in Australia. Australia will host a low-frequency telescope array of 131,072 antennas, each two metres tall and shaped like Christmas trees. South Africa will see 133 SKA dishes added to the existing 64 of the SKA-precursor telescope MeerKAT to form a mid-frequency instrument. The Construction Commencement Ceremony follows eighteen months after the SKAO’s Council approved the building of the SKA-Mid radio telescope in South Africa and the SKA-Low radio telescope in Western Australia.
0 kommentar(er)
