Astronomy talk "SKA – A crash course" New

Curious about how radio telescope work, this talk is perfect for you.

Members of the public are invited to a public lecture at the SA Astronomical Observatory on Saturday March 26, starting at 20h00. Dr. Bradley Frank (UCT) will present a talk entitled SKA – A crash course. This will be followed by a tour of the site and (weather permitting) star gazing.

Summary of the talk

The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be the largest telescope ever built on earth. It will be shared between South Africa and Australia; the majority of the dish array will be hosted in South Africa. There has been much progress in the past few years. The MeerKAT radio telescope in the Karoo (an SKA pathfinder), will be one of the most sensitive radio telescopes in the world, and will pave the way to the SKA with several ambitious and exciting science projects – many of which are being led by South African scientists.

However, despite the publicity and public support that the project enjoys, the operations and science behind a radio telescope remains a mystery. How does a radio telescope convert voltages to images? Why do we need so many single dishes? Why is it spread over such large distances?

Dr. Frank will provide a gentle introduction to the principles behind a radio telescope, he will also focus on the scientific questions that astronomers will address with MeerKAT and the SKA.