A 64-dish MeerKAT radio telescope was unveiled in the remote South African town of Carnarvon, which researchers say it's a huge project that could unlock universe conundrums.
The MeerKAT will be incorporated into complex Square Kilometre Array instrument.
At an inauguration attended by government officials and foreign dignitaries, Camilo released new images taken by MeerKAT of the region surrounding the supermassive black hole at the centre of the Milky Way galaxy, some 25,000 light years away, The Daily Mail reported.
Chosen because of its remoteness, with hills providing an extra shield against radio interference, the project site is the main African base for hundreds of antennae that will eventually be placed as far as Kenya and Ghana.
The first phase of SKA 1 in South Africa is to add 133 antennas to that (of MeerKAT),' Daily Mail reported Rob Adam, an SKA international board member, as saying.
The expansion is expected to start next year, said Adam, with the first prototype dish built in China already on site about 450 kilometres north of Cape Town in the Northern Cape province.
MeerKAT will operate independently before being incorporated into SKA 1 sometime around 2023, Adam said.
