• South Africa’s MeerKAT tracks cosmic ripples in spacetime

    Diligent observing with the MeerKAT radio telescope in the Northern Karoo, of a network of rapidly spinning neutron stars over the last five years, has unveiled additional evidence for the presence of a low frequency gravitational wave background — an underlying stretching and squeezing of spacetime on which our planet Earth bobs.

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  • African trainees hosted at HartRAO as new phase of the Development in Africa with Radio Astronomy (DARA) project gets underway

    Twenty students from Kenya and Madagascar have been participating in radio astronomy training at SARAO’s Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) from 4 to 15 November 2024.

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  • Northern Cape teams shine in regional First Lego League competition, three teams make it to nationals

    Eight years of intense dedication and commitment of the SARAO Robotics Schools Programme was evident at the 2024 For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) LEGO League (FLL) Regional Robotics Competition held at Carnarvon High School.

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  • TART telescope deployment in Kenya: another milestone for African radio astronomy

    August 2024 marked another milestone for African radio astronomy with the successful deployment of another TART (Transient Array Radio Telescope) telescope in Kenya.

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  • The MeerKAT Absorption Line Survey

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

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  • 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.

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  • 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.

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  • 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.

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  • 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.

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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.

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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...
26m and 15m telescopes at Hartebeesthoek

26m and 15m telescopes at Hartebeesthoek

Hartebeesthoek is located 65 kilometers north-west of Johannesburg, just within the provincial boundary of Gauteng. The nearest town, Krugersdorp, is...
Geodesy Programme

Geodesy Programme

Geodesy, also called geodetics, a branch of earth sciences, is the scientific discipline that deals with the measurement and representation...

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

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