By Maxwell Awumah
Ho, Jan. 09, GNA – The Square Kilomere Array (SKA) Observatory’s growing telescope array in South Africa, SKA-Mid, has achieved its “first fringes” using two of its dishes, a milestone demonstrating its maiden operation as an interferometer.
“This is the first true test showing that all our systems are working together, and that the SKA-Mid telescope is alive as a scientific instrument,” Professor Philip Diamond, the Director-General of SKAO said.
He explained that having each dish observe the sky individually was an achievement, but having them operate in concert as one telescope was a much bigger technical challenge, and “our teams have now achieved that milestone.”
He made this known in a release copied to the Ghana News Agency.
He explained that the SKA-Mid, like its counterpart SKA-Low in Australia, was an array, where many individual antennas were connected by optical fibre to act like a much larger telescope, equivalent in size to the distance between its furthest antennas.
“Fringes” were however obtained when signals received by two or more antennas were combined successfully, it said.
The release said two of SKA-Mid’s 15m-diameter dishes were used together to achieve the result, observing a radio galaxy estimated to be around 2.6 billion light years away.
Dr Betsey Adams, an SKA-Mid Commissioning Scientist, said “This source has been well studied so we know what the signal should look like, and that is what we observed with this first fringes result.
“It confirms that all our hardware and software systems are working as we designed them to do, giving us confidence as we begin to commission the telescope,” he said.
That included seeing that the dishes could track across the sky in a coordinated way under the control of the telescope manager software, he said.
He stated that the receivers were being cooled to the required temperature of minus 250°C, the synchronisation and timing system was accurately timing signals from the different dishes to a billionth of a second, and the correlator was correctly processing and aligning the data.
Dr Adams said SKA-Mid now had seven dish structures assembled on site in the Northern Cape, with a further 12 on their way from the manufacturers CETC54 in China.
When completed the telescope would comprise 197 dishes, including the integration of the existing MeerKAT radio telescope, built and operated by the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO).
Hardware and software for the SKA telescopes were being developed across the Observatory’s partner states, he said.
Mr Ben Lewis, the SKA-Mid Senior Project Manager, said starting the year with this news was a huge boost for the teams that had worked extremely hard to see it happen.
He said these included SKAO and SARAO colleagues, and their global and local partners who were contributing to the infrastructure, hardware and software for SKA-Mid.
“With all we’ve learned from these months building up to first fringes, we are in a strong position to achieve our next milestone – the first image from a four-dish array within the next few months – and then to see SKA-Mid gradually grow in size and capabilities from there,” and said.
The Project Manager said across the ocean in Australia, the SKA-Low telescope continued to grow at pace.
“Around 70 antenna stations, each comprising 256 antennas, have now been installed at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory on Wajarri Yamaji Country in Western Australia, he said.
Mr Lewis also stated that last year its first image was released, using an early version of the telescope comprising four connected stations – 1,024 antennas – or less than one per cent of the complete telescope.
He said as work continued to commission stations and integrate them into the array, planning was underway for the start of science verification activities with SKA-Low in 2027, when the first data would be released to the community for test observations.
The SKAO is an intergovernmental organisation composed of Member States and partner organisations from five continents, headquartered in the United Kingdom.
The statement said its mission was to build and operate cutting-edge radio telescopes to transform an 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, it said.
It explained that together with other state-of-the-art research facilities, the SKAO’s telescopes would explore the unknown frontiers of science and deepen human 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 would play its part to address the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and deliver significant benefits across its membership and beyond, it said.
It stated that the SKAO recognised and acknowledged the Indigenous peoples and cultures that had traditionally lived on the lands on which the Project facilities were presently located.
In Australia, we acknowledge the Wajarri Yamaji as the Traditional Owners and Native Title Holders of Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory, the site where the SKA-Low telescope was being built.
GNA
Edited by Christabel Addo
