Why in the news?

•  The Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) Council held its maiden meeting and approved the establishment of the world’s largest radio telescope.

About SKAO

• SKAO is an intergovernmental organisation which is dedicated to radio astronomy and is headquartered in the Jodrell Bank Observatory, UK. 
• At the moment, organisations from ten countries are a part of the SKAO. These include Australia, Canada, China, India, Italy, New Zealand, South Africa, Sweden, the Netherlands and the UK.
• The SKA is not a single telescope but will be an array of antennas strategically designed and set up in South Africa and Australia.
• SKA will allow astronomers to look deeper into the universe and unravel secrets about its evolution.

What is the relevance of the new SKA telescope?

• The new telescope proposed to be the largest radio telescope in the world, will be located in Africa and Australia whose operation, maintenance and construction will be overseen by SKAO. It is about to be completed by 2030.
• The new telescope will try accomplish functions and to address questions such as:

1. The beginning of the universe, how and when the first stars were born, 
2. The life-cycle of a galaxy, 
3. Exploring the possibility of detecting technologically-active civilisations elsewhere in our galaxy and 
4. Understanding where gravitational waves come from.
5. Accurately timing the signals from pulsars in the Milky Way
6. Measuring neutral hydrogen over cosmic time

• It will also coordinate a telescope called Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) in its work.

Reference:

1. https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-what-is-square-kilometre-array-the-worlds-largest-radio-telescope-7174881/