‘Are we alone in the universe?’: work begins in Western Australia on world’s most powerful radio telescopes

Sat, 24 Dec 2022 19:12:18 +1100

Andrew Pam <xanni [at] glasswings.com.au>

Andrew Pam
<https://www.theguardian.com/science/2022/dec/05/are-we-alone-in-the-universe-work-begins-in-western-australia-on-worlds-most-powerful-radio-telescope>

"Construction of the world’s largest radio astronomy observatory, the Square
Kilometre Array, has officially begun in Australia after three decades in
development.

A huge intergovernmental effort, the SKA has been hailed as one of the biggest
scientific projects of this century. It will enable scientists to look back to
early in the history of the universe when the first stars and galaxies were
formed. It will also be used to investigate dark energy and why the universe is
expanding, and to potentially search for extraterrestrial life.

The SKA will initially involve two telescope arrays – one on Wajarri country in
remote Western Australia, called SKA-Low, comprising 131,072 tree-like
antennas.

SKA-Low is so named for its sensitivity to low-frequency radio signals. It will
be eight times as sensitive than existing comparable telescopes and will map
the sky 135 times faster.

A second array of 197 traditional dishes, SKA-Mid, will be built in South
Africa’s Karoo region."

Share and enjoy,
               *** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net               Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/                 Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/            Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/               Manager, Serious Cybernetics

Comment via email

Home E-Mail Sponsors Index Search About Us