Mar 17, 2025 | News
March 17, 2025 – The first image from the SKA-Low radio telescope was released today. SKA-Low is part of the SKA Observatory (SKAO) and is located in Australia. This marks a significant milestone in SKAO's mission to provide an unprecedented view of our universe.
The first image using four stations of SKA-Low. The full moon in the upper right corner is shown for image size reference. Credit: SKAO
The image covers an area of the sky approximately 25 square degrees in size, equivalent to about 100 full moons. It displays 85 of the brightest known galaxies in that region, all of which contain supermassive black holes. The image was obtained with an early version of the SKA-Low telescope, one of two telescopes being built by SKAO. This early version of SKA-Low consists of just 1,000 of the planned 131,000 antennas. Once completed, the telescope will be able to reveal many more objects; scientists estimate it will be able to detect more than 600,000 galaxies in the same region of the sky.
SKAO is currently building two radio telescopes: SKA-Low in Western Australia and SKA-Mid in the Northern Cape Province of South Africa. The telescopes are arrays of 15-meter parabolic antennas (SKA-Mid) and dipole antennas (SKA-Low), spread over large distances. Two Spanish companies, Safran Electronics & Defense Spain and EMITE, are playing a key role in the construction of SKA-Low, providing high-precision synchronization systems between the antennas and equipment for testing and validating electronic components. "Synchronizing the signals from the different antennas is crucial for combining them correctly. Furthermore, to avoid interference, it is necessary to test that all electronic components do not generate noise in radio waves that could affect the signal from the astronomical objects being observed," explains Dr. Julián Garrido, deputy technology coordinator at SKA-Spain, adding: "For this same reason, the telescopes are being built in remote, sparsely populated locations, minimising human-caused interference."
SKA-Low is being built at Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, the CSIRO Murchison Radio Astronomy Observatory, which is located on the lands of the Wajarri Yamaji Aboriginal people, the traditional owners and native land title holders. The location's Aboriginal name, Inyarrimanha Ilgari Bundara, means "sharing the sky and stars", and reflects the commitment and collaboration between SKAO and the Indigenous peoples and cultures who inhabit the lands where its telescopes are being built.
Drone image of SKA-Low's S8 cluster with two stations completed from June 2024. Credit: SKAO
The acquisition of this image has verified the telescope's operation and capabilities. Professor Philip Diamond, Director General of the SKAO, said the image marks the observatory's debut as a scientific facility. "With this image we see the promise of the SKA Observatory as it opens its eyes to the Universe," said Professor 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 realise the full power of the SKAO."
The SKAO telescopes are being built in phases, with components sourced from SKAO member countries around the world. Dr. Lourdes Verdes-Montenegro, coordinator of Spain's participation in the SKAO, highlighted the international nature of the observatory: "This milestone has been possible thanks to an international collaboration between scientists and engineers from academia and industry. Sixteen countries from five continents are participating in the SKA project, and the impact it is already having and will have will be global thanks to SKAO's commitment to the scientific community and international society as a whole."
The Spanish participation in the SKAO is funded by the Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, with the Andalusian Institute of Astrophysics (IAA-CSIC) responsible for the national scientific and technical coordination of the project.
This animation shows the various stages of deployment of the SKA-Low telescope over the coming years, and the images it is expected to produce of the same area of the sky. Credit: SKAO
Links of interest
Associated multimedia materials https://skao.canto.global/b/LTFMH
SKAO press release: https://www.skao.int/en/news/621/ska-low-first-glimpse-universe
Jan 23, 2025 | News
23/01/2025 - A new era in astrophysics: Preparing for early science with the SKAO
Görlitz, Germany, 16-20 June, 2025
Abstract deadline: February 7, 2025
Registration is now open, early reduced-rate registration closes March 31.
More information and registration:
https://www.skao.int/en/science-users/skao-science-meeting-2025
Taking place just two years before the SKA telescopes will be tested on the first community-chosen targets, the meeting will bring together scientists from across the globe to discuss and collaborate on the cutting-edge science opportunities that the SKAO will provide in its early years of operations. Online participation will be supported for the whole week for those unable to attend in person.
Full details about the meeting are available at the #SKAOsci2025 website. #SKAOsci2025.
Jan 23, 2025 | News
Note that the SKAO White Book early draft deadline has been adjusted, and instead there is a general deadline for chapter submissions of September 2025,whereupon a peer review process will commence.
Chapters will have a maximum length of 8 pages. More info, latex templates, etc, available here: https://www.skao.int/en/science-users/557/advancing-astrophysics-ii
Jan 23, 2025 | News
22/01/2025 - A radio transient with the longest period yet seen, 2.9 hrs, was discovered by a team including Nanda Rea of ICE-CSIC and published in December 2024.
The team found the transient in low-frequency archival data from the SKAO precursor Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). Such long-period radio transients are a fairly new area of research and it is challenging to determine how the signals are generated. In this case, the team managed to find the probable source for the energy bursts, using another SKA precursor, MeerKAT, and optical SOAR observatory, and determine that the optical counterpart is a cool M3 dwarf star. This means that the signal is not due to a magnetar, but more likely is generated in a dwarf binary system scenario.
Read more:
ICE-CSIC press release
ICRAR press release
Paper: Hurley-Walker et al., 2025
Using 2 SKAO precursors, the team could trace the 2.9 hr long-period transient radio source to a specific object and measure its counterpart in optical to find an M3 dwarf star. Image credit: Hurley-Walker at al, 2024..
The team found the radio signal in archival data from the Murchison Widefield Array radio telescope, an SKAO precursor. Image credit: ICRAR/Curtin.
Sep 12, 2024 | News
01/09/2024 – El Observatorio SKA abre a la comunidad científica internacional la convocatoria para contribuir a la nueva edición del libro de ciencia SKA hasta el próximo 30 de septiembre.
El próximo año, durante la Reunión General de Ciencia del Observatorio SKA (SKAO) que se celebrará del 16 al 20 de junio, se cumplirá una década desde la publicación del libro de ciencia de SKA «Advancing Astrophysics with the Square Kilometre Array«. Este libro, escrito por la propia comunidad internacional, documenta los avances científicos que serán posibles gracias a los telescopios del SKA. En estos diez años, el diseño se ha cerrado, la construcción ha comenzado y la Organización SKA se ha transformado en un observatorio en forma de organización intergubernamental que abarca cinco continentes y ambos hemisferios.
Durante este tiempo, las observaciones realizadas con los telescopios precursores y pathfinders de SKA han arrojado nueva luz sobre enigmas científicos ya existentes y han descubierto nuevos fenómenos a la espera de una respuesta. Ahora, el SKAO está listo para comenzar las primeras pruebas para su puesta en marcha, con lo que las actividades de observación irán incrementando rápidamente. Los primeros datos de verificación científica estarán disponibles públicamente para la comunidad en 2027, y las operaciones con ambos telescopios comenzarán en 2029.
Credit: SKA Observatory
En este momento crítico, SKAO invita a la comunidad científica a contribuir a redactar una nueva versión del libro de ciencia del SKAO. El objetivo es proporcionar una cobertura actualizada de las preguntas científicas que abordarán los telescopios del SKA que esté redactada sobre la base de un conjunto maduro de especificaciones y con una variedad de herramientas y documentos disponibles basados en trabajos de diseño detallados y características del entorno de los telescopios del SKA.
El SKAO ha puesto a disposición de la comunidad científica una página donde se encuentran los detalles sobre la presentación de las expresiones de interés en contribuir con un capítulo del libro y sobre la Reunión General de Ciencia del SKAO 2025. Desde el equipo de coordinación de SKA-Spain, animamos a la comunidad española, especialmente al personal que se encuentra en etapas tempranas de sus carreras, a contribuir al libro, ya sea actualizando casos científicos existentes o incluyendo nuevos casos no cubiertos anteriormente. La convocatoria de Expresiones de Interés se cerrará el 30 de septiembre de 2024, serán revisadas por los presidentes de los Science Working Groups de SKA y se invitará a todas las ideas científicas viables a prepararse como capítulos para el libro.
Esta iniciativa presenta una oportunidad única para la comunidad científica española de influir en la dirección de la investigación astronómica internacional de los próximos años. España, como país miembro de SKAO, tendrá acceso tanto a los Key Science Projects (KSPs – proyectos de legado que ocuparan el ~ 70% del tiempo en los primeros 5 años de operaciones) como al tiempo asignado para propuestas de IP, que será proporcional al porcentaje de participación de cada país miembro. Al actualizar y añadir nuevas ideas al libro, la comunidad española podrá contribuir a maximizar el potencial científico de los telescopios del SKA y asegurar que éstos aborden el interés científico nacional, con el objetivo de mantener a la comunidad a la vanguardia de los descubrimientos astronómicos.
En conclusión, la nueva edición del libro de ciencia SKA será una guía esencial para los futuros estudios astronómicos y una plataforma para la colaboración internacional. Desde SKA-Spain, invitamos a todos los interesados a participar en esta emocionante aventura científica y a contribuir con sus conocimientos y experiencias para hacer de esta publicación un recurso valioso y actualizado para la comunidad científica global.
Aug 2, 2024 | News
02/08/2024 – More than 630 participants gathered in Granada to discuss the latest developments in astronomy. The SKA project was extensively discussed, with key presentations on its technological and scientific capabilities, underlining the importance of Spanish collaboration in this global research infrastructure.
From July 15th to 19th, the XVI Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society (SEA, for its acronym in Spanish) was held in Granada, with a record attendance of over 630 participants and more than 400 scientific talks. During this meeting, the latest scientific and technological advances in astronomy and the Spanish participation in major projects and research infrastructures were shared. Among these, the SKA project played a prominent role, as it was the subject of the inaugural plenary lecture, a special session, and also featured in another plenary and talks in various parallel sessions.
Inaugural plenary lecture “Science with SKA: the mother of all radio telescopes” by Miguel Pérez-Torres (IAA-CSIC)
In the inaugural talk, Miguel Pérez-Torres (IAA-CSIC) discussed the capabilities of SKAO telescopes and the scientific research that can be conducted with them, encouraging all attendees to become part of the SKA community by participating in the Science Working Groups. This talk can be watched in full on the SEA's YouTube channel (link). The special session on SKA focused on the latest developments at the SKA Observatory and its international network of Regional Centres (SRCNet), addressing topics such as: the timeline for the construction of SKAO telescopes, updates on scientific cases, the SKA Science Conference to be held in June 2025, the tools already available to the community, the services offered by the Spanish prototype of SKA Regional Centre at IAA-CSIC (espSRC), and the launch of the first functional version of the SRCNet in early 2025.
Julián Garrido (IAA-CSIC) and Javier Moldón (IAA-CSIC) during the special session on SKA
The plenary talks on the second day included a presentation by Vanessa Graber (University of Hertfordshire). In this talk, she summarised the work she conducted at the Institute of Space Sciences (ICE-CSIC) on pulsars and long-period radio transients, highlighting observations made with the Murchison Widefield Array, one of the SKAO precursors in Australia. This talk can also be viewed on the SEA's YouTube channel (link).
In the parallel sessions, the SKA project was also discussed from the scientific, technological and science communication aspects. The invited talks by Susana Sánchez (IAA-CSIC) and Lourdes Verdes-Montenegro (IAA-CSIC) were particularly focused on the SKA project. Susana Sánchez discussed Spain's contribution to SRCNet and the TED4SKA project, which aims to reduce the energy consumption of SKA Regional Centres. Lourdes Verdes-Montenegro provided a review of the study of galaxies and their environments using HI observations with SKA precursors and pathfinders.
Three additional talks were also presented on observations with SKA precursors and pathfinders: Jacobo Asorey (UCM) spoke about Cosmology with ASKAP surveys, Roger Ianjamasimanana (IAA-CSIC) presented work on the gas in Hickson compact groups using MeerKAT observations, and Shane O'Sullivan (UCM) discussed observations of the magnetised intergalactic medium conducted with LOTSS surveys from LOFAR and POSSUM from ASKAP.
In the instrumentation and supercomputing session, Ixaka Labadie (IAA-CSIC) presented his research on remote and interactive visualisation of spectral data cubes implemented in the espSRC, which is already being applied to MeerKAT data, a SKA precursor telescope. In a different area, Marcos Villaverde (IAA-CSIC) spoke in the session dedicated to education, outreach, and heritage about the outreach initiatives carried out by SKAO and the role of Open Science in dissemination. It is also worth mentioning a poster by David Alonso-López (UCM) on work conducted within the POSSUM-ASKAP collaboration concerning the magnetised gas in the Shapley supercluster
In addition to all this, SKAO and its telescopes were featured in other talks as a reference for the future. All of this reflects the Spanish community's interest in the SKA project and its science.
From left to right and from top to bottom: Shane O’Sullivan (UCM), Lourdes Verdes-Montenegro (IAA-CSIC), Vanessa Graber (University of Hertfordshire / ICE-CSIC), Ixaka Labadie (IAA-CSIC), Susana Sánchez (IAA-CSIC), Marcos Villaverde (IAA-CSIC) and Roger Ianjamasimanana (IAA-CSIC)
