The world's most powerful radio telescope just revealed for the first time, never before seen galaxies lurking in the deepest regions of the known universe, that amounts to more than 1,300 clusters.
This radio telescope is known as MeerKAT, located in the Northern Cape town of Carnarvon in South Africa, where it captured new imagery of galaxies from a specific region in the sky where only 70 galaxies was previously detected.
Even if the MeerKAT is still undergoing construction, this powerful instrument will become integrated with the Square Kilometer Array which is a massive radio telescope project that will be established in Australia and South Africa. These new images are a first look of the telescope's great capabilities when it later becomes fully operational.
This major breakthrough is also considered as a scientific milestone when it comes to radio telescope technology, as it is also the best one located in the southern hemisphere. These first set of images are captured by 16 dishes of MeerKAT that are continuously scanning the skies, where a total of 64 dishes will be completed for this project.
According to SKA South Africa chief technologist, Justin Jonas, based on these newest results, the team is confident that when 64 dishes are completed, MeerKAT will become the world's leading telescope of its kind.
The entire SKA project will become fully operational in 2020 where 3,000 dishes will span across 0.4 square miles across a remote region around several countries, as astronomers observe the most unknown and deepest parts of space. It is also slated that SKA will be 10,000 times more powerful that the most advanced modern scientific instruments, which will also be able to explore black holes, supernovae and dark energy, providing answers to the mysteries of the universe.
There are now 20 nations who are members of the SKA project, where Australia and South Africa are the main bases for the telescope operations, as the headquarters are located in the United Kingdom. According to SKA South Africa chief scientist, Fernando Camilo, these images will yield the best results, far better than what was initially expected. To date, it is only operating at a quarter of its full capacity, and it has already become the best radio telescope in the southern hemisphere.
These newly discovered galaxies are estimated to be 200 million light years away, in a region where new stars are being born, revealing massive stellar activity due to an abundance of hydrogen, including a supermassive black hole emitting powerful jets of energy across the universe.