The first image from the SKA-Low telescope at the international SKA Observatory in Australia has been released today, marking a significant milestone in the effort to unveil an unprecedented view of the Universe.
The first image from an early working version of the SKA Observatory’s SKA-Low telescope, which is currently under construction on Wajarri Yamaji Country in Western Australia. The dots in the image look like stars but are in fact some of the brightest galaxies in the Universe, seen in radio light. These galaxies are billions of light years away and each contains a supermassive black hole. Gas orbiting around black holes is very hot and moves quickly, emitting energy in X-rays and radio waves. SKA-Low can detect these radio waves that have traveled billions of light years across the Universe to reach Earth. At the center of the image is one of only a handful of galaxies known to expel jets of matter that are visible in both optical and radio light. Image Credit: SKAO
This initial image comes from an early working version of the SKA-Low telescope, utilizing only 1,024 of the planned 131,072 antennas, offering a promising glimpse into the groundbreaking discoveries expected from the world’s most powerful radio observatory. SKA-Low is one of two telescopes being built by the SKA Observatory (SKAO), which is co-hosted in Australia and South Africa on behalf of its member states and the global scientific community.
A 25 square degree patch of sky, or roughly 100 full moons, is seen in the image. It contains about 85 of the region's brightest galaxies, all of which have supermassive black holes. When finished, experts estimate that the telescope will be sensitive enough to view over 600,000 galaxies in a single frame, revealing significantly more in the same region of the sky.
The first four connected SKA-Low stations, which together make up the first 1,024 of SKA-Low's 2-m-tall metal antennas, provided the data used to create the image. They make up less than 1% of the entire telescope and were put in place at the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory on Wajarri Yamaji Country's Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara during the last year.
Dr. George Heald, SKA-Low Lead Commissioning Scientist, expressed his satisfaction with the first four stations' collaboration.
“The quality of this image was even beyond what we hoped for using such an early version of the telescope,” said Dr. Heald.
Dr. Heald adds, “The bright galaxies we can see in this image are just the tip of iceberg. With the full telescope we will have the sensitivity to reveal the faintest and most distant galaxies, back to the early Universe when the first stars and galaxies started to form. This is technically difficult work and the first step to unlocking the awesome science that will be possible.”
The team has achieved stellar results, said Dr. Sarah Pearce, Director of the SKA-Low Telescope.
“This is the culmination of effort from many talented and committed people across teams, organizations, and continents,” said Dr. Pearce, Director, SKA-Low Telescope.
Getting to this point has taken engineers, astronomers, and computer scientists from all over the world, working for decades. It’s amazing to see all this work come together to give our first glimpse of the brilliant images that will come from SKA-Low, promising us a view of the Universe we’ve never seen before.
Dr. Sarah Pearce, Director, SKA-Low Telescope
The SKA telescopes, SKA-Low in rural Western Australia and its counterpart SKA-Mid in the Northern Cape of South Africa, are arrays that merge data from several antennas spaced far apart to function as a single, massive telescope.
Prof. Philip Diamond, Director-General of SKAO, said the picture showed the Observatory's early days as a scientific center.
“With this image we see the promise of the SKA Observatory as it opens its eyes to the Universe,” said Prof. Diamond.
This first image is a critical step for the Observatory, and for the astronomy community; we are demonstrating that the system as a whole is working. As the telescopes grow, and more stations and dishes come online, we’ll see the images improve in leaps and bounds and start to realize the full power of the SKAO.
Philip Diamond, Professor and Director-General, SKAO
With parts sourced from SKAO member nations worldwide, the SKA telescopes are being built in phases.
SKA-Low is being constructed in Australia in partnership with CSIRO, the country's primary scientific agency. Within the following two years, it will be partially constructed and scaled to become the largest low-frequency radio telescope in the world.
The governments of Australia and Western Australia have supported the establishment of the observatory site.
The SKAO acknowledges and respects the Indigenous peoples and cultures historically connected to the lands where its facilities are situated. The data was collected at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory. Both the SKAO and CSIRO recognize the Wajarri Yamaji as the Traditional Owners and Native Title Holders of the observatory site.
Wajarri Yamaji People have been studying the sky and stars across Wajarri barna (land) for countless generations. It is fantastic to see the next leap in astronomy knowledge starting to take shape from our barna, and we’re proud to be partnering with the SKAO, the Australian Government, and CSIRO to help make this a reality. Using today’s technology to help tell the stories of the past and also help understand the stories of the future.
Jamie Strickland, CEO, Wajarri Yamaji Aboriginal Corporation
The animation shows the various stages of delivery of the SKA-Low telescope over the coming years, and the images it is expected to be able to produce of the same area of the sky. The 1,024 antennas used to produce today’s image represent less than 1% of the full telescope and are spread over a distance of less than 6 km. They revealed 85 galaxies in an area of the sky equivalent to 100 full moons over a 7-hour observation. By 2026/2027, another 16,000 antennas will make SKA-Low the most sensitive radio telescope of its kind in the world and enable it to detect over 4,500 galaxies in the same area of the sky. By 2028/2029, SKA-Low will count over 78,000 antennas and be able to detect more than 23,000 galaxies in this field. The full SKA-Low telescope will count more than 130,000 antennas and spread over 74 km. Deep surveys performed of this area of the sky from 2030 will be able to reveal up to 600,000 galaxies. Video Credit: SKAO