The array of one square kilometer SKA will be split in three countries

The future super-telescope SKA (Square Kilometer Array), the most powerful radio telescope in the world, will be installed in South Africa and Australia, today announced members of the organization responsible for the SKA. The program also involved Britain, Holland, Italy, China, Canada and India.
The SKA will consist of individual radio telescopes than 3,000


The choice of site, which will host the telescope, a project worth 2 dis.dolarion (1.5 billion euros) that claimed South Africa and Australia, was assigned to a committee of astronomers noon and head of scientific institutions.

This giant telescope, linking 3,000 dishes, will be from 50 to 100 times more sensitive than the most powerful radio telescopes available today.

The SKA will collect electromagnetic radiation with wavelengths from one hundredth to one meter. Among the sources of such radiation include the primordial hydrogen clouds from which they formed the first stars in the universe, or even alien civilizations using radio communications.

The larger a telescope, the more light (and electromagnetic radiation) can "collect", so observing objects that are far away, like stars that formed during the genesis of the universe.

The SKA will collect radio waves instead of visible light, which gives him an advantage over "conventional" optical telescopes. The radio telescopes can continue the observation and amid bad weather, to work day and not so affected by the presence of cosmic dust. However, it should be installed in remote locations, away from sources of radio waves. The largest radio telescope that currently exists in the world located in Arecibo, Puerto Rico.


 
Still, the SKA will map the positions 1 billion galaxies located in the neighborhood of the Solar System, a project that may provide new evidence for the so-called dark energy, the mysterious force that acts against the severity and accelerates the expansion of the universe ..

The giant plant will also focus on pulsars, dense cores of dead stars that emit pulses of radio waves at regular intervals. The study of these objects would provide new evidence for understanding the gravity beyond Einstein's theories.

To capture all that we should make an antenna with a diameter of 1000 meters. Since today is technically impossible to construct such a mirror, the SKA will consist of many observation stations.

The giant antennas are connected together by a powerful telecommunications system, comprising optical fibers. Thus the cost of construction will depend both on the size of the antennas and the number.

Most dishes will be installed in South Africa and facilities for medium and low frequencies will be shared between two other countries. Thus, Australia and New Zealand will have low frequencies and South Africa's mid-range frequencies.

The criteria for choice of location was, inter alia, lack of intervention by radio, the quality of the communications network "for the global distribution of the data produced by the SKA" and characteristics of the atmosphere at the location chosen. All three countries have large desert areas where there is no interference from terrestrial radio sources.

Construction is expected to begin in 2019, and the plant will be fully operational until 2024. When completed in 2024, the array will be able to scan the sky 10,000 times faster than today's radio telescopes and 50 times higher sensitivity.

 

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