Funding boost will enable scientists to look at the dawn of time, from the Karoo
THE Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project has received a $9.5m boost that will enable scientists to peer back to the dawn of time.The US National Science Foundation has made the funding available to the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionisation Array (HERA), which is part of SKA.The funding will allow the HERA project to increase the number of radio dishes from 19 to 220 by 2018.READ THIS: Telescope not an easy sell amid SA’s poverty scarsSKA South Africa senior astronomer Dr Gianni Bernardi said the dishes would allow researchers to understand the formation and evolution of the very first stars and galaxies in the universe."There are a lot of things that we may be able to learn … [including] what were the first galaxies that were formed [and] how massive they were," Bernardi said on Wednesday.An even better scenario was possible, "which could tell us about the nature of dark matter", he said.The HERA project could provide information on when the first black holes formed in the universe or whe...
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