MEERKAT TELESCOPE

10th April, 2023 Science and Technology

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Context

Recently, astronomers used machine learning to mine data from South Africa’s MeerKAT telescope.

About

MeerKAT, originally the Karoo Array Telescope, is a radio telescope consisting of 64 antennas in the Meerkat National Park, in the Northern Cape of South Africa.

Genesis

In 2003, South Africa submitted an expression of interest to host the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Radio Telescope in Africa, and the locally designed and built MeerKAT was incorporated into the first phase of the SKA.
MeerKAT was launched in 2018.

SQUARE KILOMETRE ARRAY (SKA)

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is an intergovernmental international radio telescope project being built in Australia (low-frequency) and South Africa (mid-frequency).

It is an international effort to build the world’s largest radio telescope, with eventually over a square kilometre (one million square metres) of collecting area.

The SKA cores are being built in the southern hemisphere, where the view of the Milky Way galaxy is the best and radio interference at its least.

The unprecedented sensitivity of the SKA’s receivers allow insights into the formation and evolution of the first stars and galaxies after the Big Bang, the role of cosmic magnetism, the nature of gravity, and possibly even life beyond Earth.

Along with the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array(HERA), also in South Africa, and two radio telescopes in Western Australia, the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) and the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), the MeerKAT is one of four precursors to the final SKA.

Science Objectives

MeerKAT survey will examine a million individual stars- 1,000 times the number of targets in any previous search-in the quietest part of the radio spectrum monitoring for signs of extraterrestrial technology.
The MeerKAT telescope will be used for research into cosmic magnetism, galactic evolution, large-scale structure of cosmos, dark matter and the nature of transient radio source. It will also serve as a technology demonstrator for South Africa's bid to host the Square Kilometer Array.

READ: https://www.iasgyan.in/daily-current-affairs/saras-3-radio-telescope-and-radio-waves

PRELIMS PRACTICE QUESTION

Q. Match the following:

1. ALMA radio telescope a. South Africa.

2. Saras Telescope b. Karnataka

3. MeerKAT c. Chile

4. Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) d. Hawai

A. 1-a, 2-d, 3-c, 4-a

B. 1-c, 2-a, 3-d, 4-b

C. 1-c, 2-b, 3-a, 4-d

D. 1-c, 2-a, 3-b, 4-d

Answer: C