SKA-Low Photographs 85 Galaxies With 1,024 Antennas, Beating Expectations at Under 1% Power
Updated
Updated · spacedaily.com · Jul 5
SKA-Low Photographs 85 Galaxies With 1,024 Antennas, Beating Expectations at Under 1% Power
1 articles · Updated · spacedaily.com · Jul 5
Summary
March 2025 tests showed Australia’s SKA-Low captured a scientifically usable image of 85 galaxies using just 1,024 of its planned 131,072 antennas.
Less than 1% of the final array produced a cleaner result than scientists expected, demonstrating that the telescope’s signal-combining design already works in practice.
The first image covered about 25 square degrees and used four stations at the Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara site in Western Australia, where the low-frequency array is being built.
By late 2026, roughly 68 stations are expected to be operating, and the same field could reveal hundreds of thousands of galaxies as sensitivity and resolution rise.
SKA-Low is the Australian half of the Square Kilometre Array Observatory and is ultimately meant to probe the cosmic dawn and epoch of reionisation, not just bright radio galaxies.