KAT-7 is a
radio telescope situated in the
Meerkat National Park
Meerkat National Park is a large National Park in the Northern Cape, South Africa, that encompasses the Square Kilometre Array, MeerKAT and HERA telescopes. To ensure long term viability of the Karoo site for the MeerKAT and the SKA, and for ...
, in the
Northern Cape
The Northern Cape is the largest and most sparsely populated province of South Africa. It was created in 1994 when the Cape Province was split up. Its capital is Kimberley. It includes the Kalahari Gemsbok National Park, part of the Kgalagadi ...
of
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...
. Part of the
Karoo
The Karoo ( ; from the Afrikaans borrowing of the South Khoekhoe !Orakobab or Khoemana word ''ǃ’Aukarob'' "Hardveld") is a semi- desert natural region of South Africa. No exact definition of what constitutes the Karoo is available, so its ...
Array Telescope project, it is the precursor engineering test bed to the larger
MeerKAT
MeerKAT, originally the Karoo Array Telescope, is a radio telescope consisting of 64 antennas in the Meerkat National Park, in the Northern Cape of South Africa. In 2003, South Africa submitted an expression of interest to host the Square K ...
telescope, but it has become a science instrument in its own right. The construction was completed in 2011 and commissioned in 2012. It also served as a technology demonstrator for
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...
's bid to host the
Square Kilometre Array
The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is an intergovernmental international radio telescope project being built in Australia (low-frequency) and South Africa (mid-frequency). The combining infrastructure, the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SK ...
.
KAT-7 is the first Radio telescope to be built with a composite reflector and uses a
stirling pump
A Fluidyne engine is an alpha or gamma type Stirling engine with one or more liquid pistons. It contains a working gas (often air), and either two liquid pistons or one liquid piston and a displacer.
The engine was invented in 1969. The engi ...
for 75 K cryogenic cooling. The telescope was built to test various system for the MeerKAT array, from the
ROACH correlators designed and manufactured in
Cape Town
Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second larges ...
, now used by various telescopes internationally, to composite construction techniques.
Technical specifications
KAT-7 consist of 7 dishes of 12 metres in diameter, each a prime focus
reflecting telescope
A reflecting telescope (also called a reflector) is a telescope that uses a single or a combination of curved mirrors that reflect light and form an image. The reflecting telescope was invented in the 17th century by Isaac Newton as an alternati ...
.
Performance
In April 2010 four of the seven dishes were linked together as an integrated system to produce its first interferometric image of an astronomical object. In Dec 2010, there was a successful detection of
very long baseline interferometry (VLBI) fringes between the
Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory
The Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) is a radio astronomy observatory, located in a natural bowl of hills at Hartebeesthoek just south of the Magaliesberg mountain range, Gauteng, South Africa, about 50 km west of Johannes ...
's 26 m dish and one of the KAT-7 dishes.
First HartRAO-KAT-7 VLBI fringes signal new capability
See also
* Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder
The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) is a radio telescope array located at Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory (MRO) in the Mid West region of Western Australia.
The facility began as a technology demonstrator for the i ...
* Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory
The Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO) is a radio astronomy observatory, located in a natural bowl of hills at Hartebeesthoek just south of the Magaliesberg mountain range, Gauteng, South Africa, about 50 km west of Johannes ...
* List of radio telescopes
This is a list of radio telescopes – over one hundred – that are or have been used for radio astronomy. The list includes both single dishes and interferometric arrays. The list is sorted by region, then by name; unnamed telescopes are in r ...
* South African Astronomical Observatory
South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO) is the national centre for optical and infrared astronomy in South Africa. It was established in 1972. The observatory is run by the National Research Foundation of South Africa. The facility's func ...
for optical astronomy in South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...
* Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization
The Donald C. Backer Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization (PAPER) is a radio interferometer funded by the National Science Foundation to detect 21 cm hydrogen (HI) fluctuations occurring when the first galaxies ionized inter ...
References
External links
SKA South Africa
eXperimental Development Model (XDM) at Hartebeeshoek
{{radio-astronomy
Astronomical observatories in South Africa
Buildings and structures in the Northern Cape
Karoo
Astronomy protected areas of South Africa
Square Kilometre Array