On Monday, September 15, a contract establishing the Polish Consortium of the SKA Observatory (SKAO) project was signed at the Nicolaus Copernicus University Astronomical Observatory in Piwnice near Toruń. This marks a significant step toward Poland’s participation in an international endeavor aimed at answering fundamental questions in cosmology and astrophysics, particularly regarding the origins of the Universe and the search for life beyond Earth. The University of Zielona Góra is one of the eight members of the Consortium.
The agreement was signed during the meeting of the University Science Committee of KRUP in Toruń. The signatory on behalf of the University of Zielona Góra was the Vice-Rector for Science and International Cooperation, Prof. Justyna Patalas-Maliszewska, while the initiative to involve UZ in this project was driven by the Janusz Gil Institute of Astronomy.
The SKAO, or Square Kilometre Array Observatory, is an international initiative to build the world’s largest radio astronomy observatory – ultimately with a total radio-collecting area close to one square kilometer, which is 14 times larger than the currently largest operating radio telescope, FAST in China. This will enable radio astronomical observations with unprecedented sensitivity and allow the detection of signals that current telescopes cannot capture. Among other things, the observatory will study signals from the very early Universe, including the first stars and galaxies (the so-called reionization epoch), signals from distant quasars and radio galaxies, as well as nearer pulsars – neutron stars located within the Milky Way – a particular focus of researchers from the UZ Institute of Astronomy. The SKAO radio telescope will consist of several sets of antennas (some already operational), primarily located in Western Australia (Murchison region) and in South Africa (Karoo region).
The establishment of the Polish SKA Observatory Consortium is the first step toward Poland’s participation in this massive international project, which already includes Australia, Canada, China, Germany, India, Italy, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and Sweden, with France and South Korea expected to join soon. The national consortium will consist of eight institutions: the University of Warsaw, Jagiellonian University in Kraków, the Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the National Centre for Nuclear Research, the University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, the University of Szczecin, the University of Zielona Góra, and – as the project coordinator – Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń.
