Expansion of the MWA telescope to study the first stars

Expansion of the MWA telescope to study the first stars

4,096 antenna units installed in the desert area of ​​Western Australia. In one block 16 instruments are placed.

When and how were the first stars created in space? The Marchison Broadband Radar (MWA) is one of the largest instruments of its kind. This is an international project involving 7 countries, including Japan and Australia. The sensitization began in 2016 and ended in October 2017. As a result, improvements increased the number of antennas to 4096 units located on an area of ​​5 km 2. The updated MWA will address the decision of the universal secrets, which began 13.7 billion years ago.

It is believed that the space came from the Big Bang event. The age of the Sun is 4.6 billion years, so our system was created relatively recently. The first stars were formed 100 million years after the start of the whole (13.7 billion years ago). But they are too far away to be observed with modern telescopes. However, the MWA can see the distribution of hydrogen gas at a distance of 100 million - 1 billion years after the Big Bang.

Expansion of the MWA telescope to study the first stars

The left image was taken before the MWA update, and the right one after. Now you can get a more accurate image.

The problem is that such a signal is too weak. For the review you need a telescope with a wide coverage area. The increased number of antennas improved MWA sensitivity and image quality. Now scientists can view the Universe in much more detail and search for the first stars. They also plan to connect the Subaru telescope, which will increase power.

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