First space image taken by the SKA-Low telescope exceeds expectations
By Chloe Henville
ABC Midwest & Wheatbelt
Topic:Space Exploration
15m ago15 minutes agoMon 17 Mar 2025 at 7:34pm
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In short:
A world-leading telescope in WA's outback reaches a critical milestone after capturing its first image.
Image quality will improve as the telescope continues to be built in stages until it is finished by 2030.
What's next?
Scientists say the completed telescope will test Einstein's theory of general relativity and could prove the existence of intelligent life in other star systems.
In the red dirt of outback Western Australia, a world-leading radio telescope has captured its first image and scientists say it is a crucial step towards seeing the origins of the known universe.
An aerial drone shot of a facility being built in the WA outback, with lots of red dirt surrounding.
Over 700 kilometres north of Perth lies what will become the world's largest low-frequency radio telescope. (ABC News: Glyn Jones)
The image was taken by an early version of the Square Kilometre Array telescope, known as SKA-Low, being built in the Murchison region, 700km north of Perth.
The first image was taken using 1,000 Christmas-tree like antennas — less than 1 per cent of the total 131,000 planned — and showed 85 of the brightest galaxies in the region.
Two photos of stars, with one showing more detail than the other.
The first image from SKA-Low (left) compared to a simulated image (right) of the same patch of sky the telescope may capture once complete. (Supplied: SKAO)
The Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) said that when the telescope was finished in 2030, the same frame could show more than 600,000 galaxies.
Set to be the largest low-frequency radio telescope in the world, the SKA-Low is expected to be fully operational by the end of the decade.
A window into the universe's origins
George Heald in a blue polo smiles at the camera, in front of a computer and SKAO sign.
Dr George Heald is the lead commissioning scientist for the Murchison-based telescope. (ABC News: Kenith Png)
SKA-Low lead commissioning scientist George Heald said the current image quality was beyond what the team had hoped for.
"We can see a lot of galaxies, and we can see the image is looking nice and clean, which gives us lots of confidence about the telescope performance," Dr Heald said.
"With the full telescope, we will have the sensitivity to reveal the faintest and most distant galaxies."
Rows of Christmas-tree shaped metal antenna, in front of a bushland.
One thousand Christmas-tree shaped metal antennas stand nestled in outback scrub. (Supplied: SKAO/Max Alexander)
Dr Heald said it was built for a range of scientific uses, including looking to the beginning of the universe.
"What we're really seeing is a time machine,"
he said.
"We can look back through time and see how the universe has shaped around us.
"What we can do is find the impact of those first stars and galaxies on the universe and beyond that we can look at the evolution of galaxies throughout time, over the course of the history of the universe."
A spiral of star light in a purple sky, with silhouettes of antennas in the foreground.
The "time machine" telescope has a broad range of scientific uses. (Supplied: CSIRO/Ken Lawson)
This means scientists could explore the first billion years after the so-called dark ages of the universe and test Einstein's theory of general relativity by investigating gravity around black holes.
Dr Heald said the telescope could also be used to search for extra-terrestrial intelligence by scanning for electronic leakage in different star systems.
"We can slice and dice the data in all sorts of different ways to look for unexpected signals," he said.
A close up of a man in a fluro yellow shirt fiddling with a metal antenna.
Technician Zamarn Howard inspects an antenna. (Supplied: SKAO/Max Alexander)
International value
Dr Heald said the telescope was being built in stages and was set to become the world's largest low-frequency radio telescope within two years.
It will span more than 74 kilometres (as the crow flies) when finished in about 2030.
Data is combined from individual 2-metre-tall antennas, which work together as one big telescope.
Philip Diamond in a high-vis shirt and a blue bucket hat, standing at the radio telescope site in the outback.
SKAO director-general Philip Diamond says the image shows that the early telescope is successful. (ABC News: Tabarak Al Jrood)
Capturing its first image proves the SKA-Low telescope is functioning as planned, SKAO director-general Professor Philip Diamond said.
"This first image is a critical step for [SKAO], and for the astronomy community; we are demonstrating that the system as a whole is working," he said.
"As the telescopes grow, and more stations and dishes come online, we'll see the images improve in leaps and bounds and start to realise the full power of the SKAO."
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Posted15m ago15 minutes agoMon 17 Mar 2025 at 7:34pm
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