Boost for astronomy research

The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionisation Array (HERA), which is part of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) in the Karoo, has received a $9.5m boost from the US National Science Foundation to increase the number of radio dishes from 19 to 220 by 2018. SKA senior astronomer Gianni Bernardi said the dishes would allow researchers to understand the formation of the first stars and galaxies. The astronomers would be able to make the first measurements of how the fraction of neutral hydrogen changed with cosmic time, he said.