Randall Wayth, the project’s senior commissioning scientist, called the picture a “key validation” of the technology, which was only possible because the entire system worked.
When complete, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Observatory will be the largest radio telescope ever built and will work in tandem with a partner observatory being built in South Africa.
Researchers hope to use it to explore the first billion years after the so-called dark ages of the Universe when the first stars and galaxies formed.
Construction on the project began in 2022 at the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory site in Western Australia, with the project due for completion in 2029.
“The first image, made using just 1,024 of the planned 131,000 antennas, is remarkably clear, confirming that the complex systems for transmitting and processing data from the antennas are working properly,” said Wayth in a post on The Conversation.
“The image shows a patch of the sky, approximately 25 square degrees in area, as seen in radio waves. The dots in the image look like stars, but are actually some of the brightest galaxies in the Universe.
“These galaxies are billions of light-years away, so the galaxies we are seeing now were emitting this light when the Universe was half its current age.
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“They are so bright because each of these distant galaxies contains a supermassive black hole.
“Gas orbiting around black holes is very hot and moves very quickly, emitting energy in X-rays and radio waves. SKA-Low can detect these radio waves that have travelled billions of light years across the Universe to reach Earth.”
The first of the 130,000 Christmas tree-shaped antennas that will make up the SKA-Low radio telescope was only installed last year, and once complete, the telescope will cover roughly an entire square kilometre.
The antennas at the Murchison Observatory, which is classified as “SKA-Low”, will be used in tandem with the 197 dishes that will be built at a site in Karoo in South Africa, which is dubbed “SKA-Mid”.
“SKA-Low will be made up of 512 aperture arrays (or stations), each comprised of 256 antennas,” added Wayth.
“Unlike traditional telescopes, aperture arrays have no moving parts, which makes them easier to maintain. The individual antennas receive signals from all directions at once, and – to produce images – we use complex mathematics to combine the signals from each individual antenna and ‘steer’ the telescope.
“The advantages and flexibility of aperture arrays come at the cost of complex signal processing and software systems. Any errors in signal timing, calibration or processing can distort the final image or introduce noise.”
A core goal of the SKA is to map the structure of the fledgling Universe for the first time and help astronomers understand how galaxy formation began.
Professor Phillip Diamond, the SKAO’s director general, said last year that the telescopes are “next-generation instruments” that will allow teams to test Einstein’s theories in more detail than ever before.
“With this telescope in Australia, we will watch the births and deaths of the first stars and galaxies, giving us invaluable clues about how the Universe evolved.”
Adam Thorn
Adam is a journalist who has worked for more than 40 prestigious media brands in the UK and Australia. Since 2005, his varied career has included stints as a reporter, copy editor, feature writer and editor for publications as diverse as Fleet Street newspaper The Sunday Times, fashion bible Jones, media and marketing website Mumbrella as well as lifestyle magazines such as GQ, Woman’s Weekly, Men’s Health and Loaded. He joined Momentum Media in early 2020 and currently writes for Australian Aviation and World of Aviation.
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