Construction of the world's largest radio telescope begins

The Square Kilometer Array Observatory (SKO) can peer deeper into space than any previous radio telescope, providing sharper images than Hubble.

Construction of the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) Observatory , the largest radio telescope ever, began after nearly 30 years of preparation. Construction at two sites in Australia and South Africa, where two separate sections of the radio telescope network are located, will take place from July 1, according to a June 29 announcement by the Astronomical Society. Europe (EAS).

Two complexes of the SKA radio telescope will be located in Australia and South Africa. (Photo: SKAO).

The SKA telescope specializes in listening to radio signals in the large frequency range from 70 MHz to at least 25 GHz with a total data collection area of ​​one square kilometer. Instead of relying on an extremely large circular dish, the work will include a network of precisely designed dishes and antennas, distributed in two locations. The SKA-Mid complex, located in the Karoo desert in South Africa, will use 197 discs, each 15 m in diameter, to listen to the mid-frequency range. The SKA-Low complex, which focuses on the lower frequency range, will consist of 131,072 antennas located north of Perth, Western Australia.

SKA will provide higher quality images than the Hubble telescope. The work was first proposed in 1993 by the International Federation of Snowless Sciences. Countries supported the project to establish the SKA Telescope Operating Organization (SKAO) in February this year. The 16 member countries of the SKAO project contributed a total of $1.55 billion in construction costs and $0.83 billion for the first 10 years of operation.

The telescope will collect about 13 terabits of data per second, or 300 high-definition films per second, according to Philipa Hartley, a postdoctoral fellow at the SKA project. " The data will be very complex compared to radio data and radio images that we've seen in the past. That's because the new telescope can see farther into space than previous telescopes. So the image will be filled with galaxies on top of each other," Hartley said.

According to the schedule, the observatory will begin conducting scientific measurements in 2024 after the completion of two small assemblies. SKAO hopes to expand its network of telescopes to include hundreds of more dishes and thousands of antennas.