The Square Kilometre Array (SKA), the world’s largest radio astronomy observatory, has begun construction in Australia after three decades of planning. The international collaboration has been hailed as one of the most significant scientific projects of the twentieth century. The project will allow scientists to go back in time to when the first stars and galaxies formed in the universe.
Why the universe is expanding will be studied
Square Kilometre Array will also be used to study dark energy and why the universe is expanding, as well as to look for extraterrestrial life. The SKA radio telescope will be housed at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory, which is run by the CSIRO and is located in Murchison, Western Australia.
Dr Sarah Pearce, SKA-Low’s director, said the observatory would “define the next fifty years for radio astronomy, charting the birth and death of galaxies, searching for new types of gravitational waves and expanding the boundaries of what we know about the universe”.
