radio waves

CD Anderson The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) radio telescope project, near the town of Carnarvon in the remote Northern Cape, revealed the first image of...

Is the universe expanding? What is dark energy? What's the deal with gravity? And the biggest question of all; are we alone? The Square Kilometre Array, which will aim to answer these questions and more, is slowly taking shape in a remote corner of South Africa's starry-skied Karoo.

Is the universe expanding? What is dark energy? What's the deal with gravity? And the biggest question of all; are we alone? The Square Kilometre Array, which will aim to answer these questions and more, is slowly taking shape in a remote corner of South Africa's starry-skied Karoo.

It is billions of rand and years in the making, but once the Square Kilometre Array – most of which will be located in South Africa – is up and running, it will offer a clear hotline to the universe. The massive radio telescope installation will help scientists study the stars.

After weeks of speculation, members of the Square Kilometre Array Organisation have announced that South Africa and Australia will jointly host the world’s largest radio telescope.
• Great astronomy, with or without SKA

After weeks of speculation, members of the Square Kilometre Array Organisation have announced that South Africa and Australia will jointly host the world's largest radio telescope, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).

South Africa's KAT-7 telescope, a seven-dish array which is a precursor to the much larger MeerKAT telescope and a prototype for the Square Kilometre Array, has reached another milestone by producing the first atomic hydrogen spectral line images of a nearby galaxy.

Located at the proposed Square Kilometre Array site in the remote Northern Cape province, the seven-dish KAT-7 is the world's first radio telescope array consisting of dishes made of fibreglass, and has already delivered images of the Centaurus A, a galaxy 14-million light years away.
• South Africa's SKA bid gets new campaign

The Southern African Large Telescope (SALT) is the largest single optical telescope in the southern hemisphere, with a hexagonal mirror array 11 metres in diameter giving it the ability to record distant stars, galaxies and quasars a billion times too faint to be seen with the unaided eye.

South Africa’s MeerKAT radio telescope is scheduled to become operational only in five years’ time, but scientists from around the world are lining up to book research time at the facility.