• The MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey

    A million radio sources probe the motion of the solar system and provide a fundamental test of cosmology

    Find out more

  • SKAO and African partners strengthen collaboration on human capital development

    The SKAO has signed memoranda of understanding with the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) and the African Astronomical Society (AfAS) focused on collaborating on human capital development programmes.

    Find out more

  • Celebrating MeerKAT’s boundless scope for discovery

    As South Africa’s greatest astronomical project comes of age, researchers mark its achievements. The discovery of 49 new galaxies in a few hours, announced earlier this year, was the latest testament to the value of South Africa’s MeerKAT telescope.

    Find out more

  • First TART telescope deployment in Mauritius marks a milestone for African radio astronomy

    April 2024 marked a significant milestone for African radio astronomy with the successful deployment of the first TART (Transient Array Radio Telescope) in Mauritius. The installation took place at the Université des Mascareignes (UdM), Bel Air campus, under the auspices of Rhodes University’s Professor Oleg Smirnov, UdM’s Dr Keshav Sewraj, Dr Max Scheel of the Electronics Research Foundation (New Zealand), and South African Radio Astronomy Observatory’s (SARAO) Dr Nadeem Oozeer.

    Find out more

  • SARAO gears up to participate in the 32nd IAU General Assembly to be held in Cape Town

    The 2024 IAU GA will be held from 6 to 15 August 2024 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre (CTICC), adopting an open-access format in which individuals around the globe will have the unprecedented opportunity to remotely access live talks presented at the Assembly.

    Find out more

  • Digital Transformation Workshop: A leap forward in Industry 5.0 education

    The workshop, held from 15 to 19 April 2024 in Cape Town, was attended by 65 graduates from 12 African countries holding a 4-year Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Engineering degree, or students currently pursuing or having obtained a Master of Science or Engineering degree, as well as a few Doctoral degree candidates in various disciplines.

    Read more

  • MeerKAT+: the MeerKAT Extension

    The handover of the first dish of the MeerKAT extension signals an important milestone towards the construction of the Square Kilometre Array

    Find out more

  • Development in Africa with Radio Astronomy (DARA) project makes astronomy training accessible to students based at historically disadvantaged institutions in South Africa

    Nineteen students from Kenya and South Africa have been participating in a Development in Africa with Radio Astronomy training initiative, which is being run in partnership with the Kenya Optical Telescope Initiative.

    Find out more

  • The SKA-MPIfR Telescope in South Africa is ready for science operations

    SARAO provided specialised personnel and resources to identify and rectify sources of radio frequency interference (RFI) as required to ensure that the antenna was compliant with SARAO and SKAO RFI requirements.

    Find out more

  • Low-cost radio telescope brings new research and training opportunities for African scientists

    Scientists and engineers from nine African countries, including South Africa, have converged at Rhodes University in Makhanda to share knowledge in building a low-cost radio telescope called the ‘Transient Array Radio Telescope’ or TART.

    Find out more

  • MeerKAT discovers a distant galaxy has very large hydrogen atoms

    A team of astronomers from South Africa and the US have used the MeerKAT telescope to solve a longstanding puzzle in ‘X’-shaped radio galaxies.

    Find out more

  • MeerKAT Grand Tour Data Science workshop held at Rhodes University

    Funded by the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory’s (SARAO) Human Capital Development Programme, the workshop was held in collaboration with the Breakthrough Listen initiative, the MeerTime collaboration, the TRAPUM collaboration, the Transient Array Radio Telescope consortium and the Centre for Radio Astronomy Techniques and Technologies (RATT) in the Department of Physics and Electronics at Rhodes University.

    Read more

  • Local impact study of HERA telescope shows direct benefits of radio astronomy infrastructure in South Africa’s Northern Cape province

    The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) has undertaken a local impact study of South Africa’s hosting of the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA). The HERA telescope is an array of 350 antennas situated next to the MeerKAT radio telescope on the site that hosts the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in the Northern Cape province.

    Find out more
12345678910111213

The Square Kilometre Array will be the largest radio telescope ever built and will produce science that changes our understanding of the universe. In Africa the SKA will be built in South Africa and eight other African Countries. The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), a facility of the National Research Foundation, is responsible for managing all radio astronomy initiatives and facilities in South Africa, including the MeerKAT Radio Telescope in the Karoo, the Geodesy and VLBI activities at the Hartebeesthoek site.

Find out more

News

View All News
No event found!
View Events Calendar

Science

View All Science

TELESCOPES, INSTRUMENTS, PROGRAMMES AND PROJECTS

KAT-7 Telescopes

KAT-7 Telescopes

The seven-dish MeerKAT precursor array, KAT-7, is the world’s first radio telescope array consisting of composite antenna structures.
Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Re-ionisation project (PAPER)

Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Re-ionisation project (PAPER)

The primary goal of PAPER is to detect emission from the neutral gas that pervaded the universe before the first...
C-BASS C-Band All Sky Survey project

C-BASS C-Band All Sky Survey project

C-BASS is a project to map the sky in microwave (short-wavelength radio) radiation.
MeerKAT Digitiser

MeerKAT Digitiser

The Digitiser is the sub-system of the MeerKAT telescope which is responsible for converting the signals received from outer space...

MeerKAT in Northern Cape, South Africa

The South African MeerKAT radio telescope, situated 90 km outside the small Northern Cape town of Carnarvon, is a precursor to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope and will be integrated into the mid-frequency component of SKA Phase 1. The MeerKAT telescope is an array of 64 interlinked receptors (a receptor is the complete antenna structure, with the main reflector, sub-reflector and all receivers, digitisers and other electronics installed). Read More

Hartebeesthoek Site in Johannesburg, South Africa

SARAO Hartebeesthoek Site is located west of Johannesburg, South Africa. built in 1961 by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) of the United States of America. An 85 foot = 26 metre diameter antenna was used to get data from, and send commands to, many unmanned US space probes going beyond Earth orbit. Read More

Announcements and Upcoming Events