The 2020 Africa Data Science Intensive (DSI) Programme was hosted by the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) in collaboration with AIMS South Africa, Grailabs and the University of Portsmouth as part of the UK-South Africa Newton Fund Development in Africa with Radio Astronomy (DARA) Big Data programme, between September 2020 and January 2021.

SKAO Global Headquarters, Jodrell Bank, UK, Thursday, 4 February 2021 – The SKA Observatory, a new intergovernmental organisation dedicated to radio astronomy, was launched today following the first meeting of the Observatory’s Council.

Two giant radio galaxies have been discovered with South Africa’s powerful MeerKAT telescope. These galaxies are amongst the largest single objects in the Universe and are thought to be quite rare.

South Africa joins countries in signing treaty on the establishment of the SKAO as an intergovernmental legal entity

The National Research Foundation, through its national facility the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), and the Max Planck Gesellschaft (MPG) welcome the Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica (INAF) as an additional partner on the MeerKAT extension project (MeerKAT+).

The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) announces an opportunity to apply for observing time on the MeerKAT telescope.

A minimum of 1,000 hours of telescope time will be awarded through this call, with all approved projects to be scheduled by no later than the end of 2021. The call for proposals is open for imaging projects only.

Pretoria, South Africa, 1 June 2020 – South Africa, the future home of the SKA’s mid-frequency telescope, has ratified the Convention Establishing the SKA Observatory after the South African Parliament approved the Convention and Dr Naledi Pandor, Minister of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, signed the Instrument of Ratification.

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.

An international team of astronomers has uncovered unusual features in the radio galaxy ESO 137-006 using MeerKAT data.

The Department of Trade, Industry and Competition has mandated the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) to manage the national effort required for the local design, development, production and procurement of respiratory ventilators to support the government’s response to combat the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.

South Africa is currently under a COVID-19 lockdown for a period of 21 days until midnight on 16 April 2020. The lockdown involves significant restrictions of movement.

After careful consideration, the management of the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) has decided to postpone the forthcoming MeerKAT Open Day scheduled for 25 March 2020 until further notice.

For the first time ever astronomers have detected the radiation stimulated by a “heat wave” of intense thermal energy from a massive new-born star, or so-called protostar.

First radio image of distant Milky Way-like galaxies reveals star formation history of the Universe

Scientists using the MeerKAT radio telescope and the Southern African Large Telescope have combined forces for the first time to discover and identify a unique and previously-unseen flare of radio emission from a binary star in our Galaxy.

The 2019 Big Data Africa School was hosted by the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), from 6 to 16 October 2019, at the Lagoon Beach Hotel in Cape Town.

The Hydrogen and Real-time Analysis eXperiment (HIRAX), led out of the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), has deployed two new prototype telescope dish designs, one aluminium and the other fibreglass, at the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) Hartebeesthoek in Gauteng.

An international team of astronomers using the MeerKAT telescope has discovered enormous balloon-like structures that tower hundreds of light-years above and below the centre of our galaxy.

Hydrogen gas (represented by green blobs) detected with SARAO’s MeerKAT radio telescope within and around the galaxy NGC 1316, visible at the centre of the image. The two hydrogen tails newly discovered with MeerKAT are visible in the upper and lower parts of the image (the curved arcs are added to guide the eye). Additional hydrogen clouds near NGC 1316 are also visible. The visible light image in the background is from the Fornax Deep Survey – a Dutch-Italian collaboration led by the University of Groningen and INAF – Naples – and was obtained with the VST telescope at the European Southern Observatory. (Adapted from results presented in Serra et al. 2019.)

The international engineering consortium tasked with planning the Assembly, Integration and Verification (AIV) of the SKA Radio Telescope has formally completed its work, another crucial step towards the construction of the world’s largest radio telescope.

International consortium of computing specialists complete the engineering design work of the Science Data Processor for the Square Kilometre Array Radio Telescope.

South African Radio Astronomy Observatory announces selection of 38 South African-led projects that will use the MeerKAT radio telescope.

The South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) congratulates the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) Consortium on capturing the first image of the gargantuan black hole at the heart of the distant galaxy Messier 87.

The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has welcomed the adoption of the Integrated Environmental Management Plan (IEMP) for phase one of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in South Africa.

On Friday, 22 March 2019 the Minister of Environmental Affairs, Ms Nomvula Mokonyane, gazetted the adoption of the Integrated Environmental Management Plan (IEMP) for the Square Kilometre Array Phase 1 Mid-Frequency Array (SKA1_MID) in South Africa.

South Africa joins countries in signing treaty on the establishment of the SKAO as an intergovernmental legal entity