On March 20th the Physics Department organised a trip to Jodrell Bank radio observatory in Cheshire, (outside Manchester), UK. Students from 3rd and 4th year Physics with Astrophysics (MH204) spend the day learning about the science and history of radio astronomy and the development of the Lovell Telescope (76 m radio dish in the group photo below) and we also visited the headquarters of the SKAO (https://www.skao.int/en) on site (Square Kilometre Array Observatory). The SKA Observatory, or SKAO for short, is an intergovernmental organisation bringing together nations from around the world to build a new low frequency radio array which should be operational by 2030.
SKAO is building a cutting-edge radio telescope array to transform our understanding of the Universe at radio-quiet sites in South Africa and Australia. Dr Shari Breen and Dr Wendy Williams from SKAO gave the students a great presentation on the science the new facility will achieve and also gave an overview of their paths to a career in astrophysics at SKAO.
