Australia, South Africa To Jointly Build The World’s Largest Radio Telescope – SlashGear

A significant part of the Square Kilometre Array is located in a remote area in Western Australia. Upon completion of construction, this location will consist of 131,072 small antennas that will give the telescope a combined collection area of 400,000 square meters. This part of the SKA telescope goes by the name SKA-Low because it is specifically designed to detect radio signals that possess very low frequencies. These structures are hardly imposing to look at. However, the combined power of more than 131,072 small antennas exceeds the detection capabilities of more physically imposing radio telescopes.

In addition to the 131,072 small antennas located in Australia, the SKA radio telescope will also include 197 steerable 15-meter dishes dotted across a remote location in South Africa’s Karoo region. This element of the SKA telescope is called the SKA-Mid — named after its capability to detect radio signals that fall in the mid-range of the spectrum. The 197 smaller dishes give it a combined collecting area of 33,000 square meters.

Thanks to its massive scale, the SKA will become one of the most sensitive radio telescopes ever made. Besides letting astronomers take a peek into the distant corners of the early universe, the telescope will also help humankind gain deeper insights into the formation of the universe.