N CAPE TOURISM FIGURES UP
THE INCREASE in tourism in the Northern Cape has been attributed to the presence of the MeerKAT radio telescope 80km from the small rural town of Carnarvon near Victoria West.
This is according to the Province’s tourism chief executive, Sharon Lewis.
“Since SKA (the Square Kilometre Array) there was an increase of feet into the Province. This year I can proudly announce that the Northern Cape has more than doubled its domestic figures, which is important for us.
“That is to the betterment of your tourism industry because if your locals travel then you’re not so much affected by dramatic economic shocks globally.
“SKA staff are travelling in as well as families who are bringing their children to see the scientific facilities here. DEPUTY President David Mabuza has officially inaugurated the MeerKAT radio telescope in the Northern Cape and revealed an image obtained with the new telescope that shows extraordinary detail in the region surrounding the supermassive black hole at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy.
After a decade in design and construction, the project of South Africa’s Department of Science and Technology began science operations on Friday.
At the launch event, a panorama obtained with the new telescope was unveiled that reveals extraordinary detail in the region surrounding the supermassive black hole at the centre of our Milky Way galaxy. This was one of several very exciting new views of the Universe already observed by the MeerKAT telescope.
“We wanted to show the science capabilities of this new instrument”, said Fernando Camilo, chief scientist of the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO), which built and operates MeerKAT in the semi-arid Karoo region of the Northern Cape.
“The centre of the galaxy was
“The national Department of Tourism is also building a science interpretive centre here because although people can’t go on to the site, they will still have an experience linked to SKA.”
Lewis described Carnarvon as a very special place with diverse tourism products.
“It has a lot of history and culture and now the rural community also has science and technology, so it’s moving from one level to another level.” She said when the project came, many latched on by expanding their facilities. New guest houses were built and some facilities upgraded.
Northern Cape Premier Sylvia Lucas said the Province had been part of the South African effort to host the Square Kilometre Array since 2006.
She said the project had brought pride as well as economic an obvious target: unique, visually striking and full of unexplained phenomena – but also notoriously hard to image using radio telescopes”, Camilo stated.
The centre of the Milky Way, 25 000 light-years away from Earth and lying behind the constellation Sagittarius (the “Teapot”), is forever enshrouded by intervening clouds of gas and dust, making it invisible from Earth using ordinary telescopes. However, infrared, X-ray, and in particular radio wavelengths penetrate the obscuring dust and open a window into this distinctive region with its unique four million solar mass black hole.
“Although it’s early days with MeerKAT, and a lot remains to be optimised, we decided to go for it – and were stunned by the results. This image is remarkable,” said Farhad Yusef-Zadeh of Northwestern University in Evanston, and educational benefits for future generations.
In terms of education, a cyber lab and computer lab were established, as well as a community computer centre and a technical training facility. Pupils are also participating in the SKA undergraduate programme, which will have the first cohort of local graduates at the end of this academic year.
“We have witnessed one of the most significant instruments ever to be developed.
“We have seen the evolution of what was just an idea becoming the Karoo Array telescope called KAT 7 and today the 64dish telescope with extensive infrastructure.
“We are certain the name of our Province will be sited in all scientific publications from the work done with this instrument.” Illinois, one of the world’s leading experts on the mysterious filamentary structures present near the central black hole but nowhere else in the Milky Way.
These long and narrow magnetised filaments were discovered in the 1980s using the Very Large Array (VLA) radio telescope in New Mexico but their origin has remained a mystery.
“The MeerKAT image has such clarity”, continues Yusef-Zadeh, “it shows so many features never before seen, including compact sources associated with some of the filaments, that it could provide the key to cracking the code and solve this three-decade riddle”.
Yusef-Zadeh adds that “MeerKAT now provides an unsurpassed view of this unique region of our galaxy. It’s an exceptional achievement, congratulations to our South African colleagues. They’ve built The first image which was produced by MeerKAT. Snapshot of centre of the Milky Way reveals clearest ever image of supermassive black hole.
Image: Supplied
an instrument that will be the envy of astronomers everywhere and will be in great demand for years to come.”
The image shows the clearest view yet of the central regions of our galaxy. At the distance of the galactic centre (located within the white area near image centre), this tow degree by one degree panorama corresponds to an area of approximately 1 000 light-years by 500 light-years.
The colour scheme chosen to display the signals represents the brightness of the radio waves recorded by the telescope (ranging from red for faint emission to orange to yellow to white for the brightest areas).
The image shows a wealth of never before seen features, as well as a clearer view of previously known supernova remnants, star-forming regions, and radio filaments.