The South African MeerKAT radio telescope is a precursor to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope and will be integrated into the mid-frequency component of SKA Phase 1.

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Higher-resolution version of lower-right panel in IMAGE 2. This view, covering about 1% of the full MeerKAT First Light image, shows a “Fanaroff-Riley Class 2” (FR2) object: a massive black hole in the distant universe (matter falling into it produces the bright dot at the center) launching jets of powerful electrons moving at close to the speed of light that emit radio waves detected with MeerKAT’s sharp view of the radio sky (thin lines connecting the central dot to the brighter lobes of radio emission).

View showing 10% of the full MeerKAT First Light radio image. More than 200 astronomical radio sources (white dots) are visible in this image, where prior to MeerKAT only five were known (indicated by violet circles). This image spans about the area of the Earth’s moon.

Montage of MeerKAT First Light radio image and four zoomed-in insets. The two panels to the right show distant galaxies with massive black holes at their centers. At lower left is a galaxy approximately 200 million light years away, where hydrogen gas is being used up to form stars in large numbers.

MeerKAT First Light image. Each white dot represents the intensity of radio waves recorded with 16 dishes of the MeerKAT telescope in the Karoo (when completed, MeerKAT will consist of 64 dishes and associated systems). More than 1300 individual objects – galaxies in the distant universe – are seen in this image.

Quelle: credit SKA South Africa