Square Kilometre Array: 'Lift-off' for world's biggest telescope

[Judi Lynn]

Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent
@BBCAmoson Twitter

Published 4 February



SKAO
Artwork: The parabolic antennas will be sited in South Africa

One of the grand scientific projects of the 21st Century is 'Go!'.

The first council meeting of the Square Kilometre Array Observatory has actioned plans that will lead to the biggest telescope on Earth being assembled over the coming decade.

Member states approved a thousand pages of documents covering everything from the power to open a bank account to engaging with industrial contractors.

The SKA telescope will comprise a vast formation of radio receivers.

These will be positioned across South Africa and Australia.

The array's resolution and sensitivity, allied to prodigious computing support, will enable astronomers to address some of the most fundamental questions in astrophysics today.

More:
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-55933958

How did the first stars come to shine in the Universe? What exactly is "dark energy" - the mysterious form of energy that appears to be driving the cosmos apart at an accelerating rate? And even the most basic question of all - are we alone? The SKA's unprecedented sensitivity would pick up any extra-terrestrial transmissions.

[abqtommy]

1. Thanks, that's very impressive. Here'a a link to the VLA/Very Large Array that's located here

in New Mexico. I've driven by this location several times and never fail to feel amazed and humbled.

http://www.vla.nrao.edu/

[Judi Lynn]

2. Had no idea they had something like this in New Mexico. Wow. The antennas are so powerful.

I saw at the link it's about 2 hours from Albuquerque. It would stand to reason the sky is really clear out there. Amazing.

Getting a chance to look at it in person, even from a discreet distance, would be exciting.

It's good learning it's there. Thank you for sharing this information.