MeerKAT secures an unprecedented image of the Galactic core

South Africa’s already world-renowned MeerKAT radio telescope array, located in the Karoo region of the Northern Cape province, has again ‘delivered the goods’. An international team has released an unprecedentedly clear and detailed radio wavelength image of the centre of our galaxy, the Milky Way, the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) has reported. The creation of this new image of our Galactic core was made possible by MeerKAT’s cutting edge design and great sensitivity. The array is composed of 64 dish antennas, spread across an area with a diameter of 8 km. The instrument’s geographical location – in the Southern Hemisphere – was also a major advantage.