SAFRICA-SCIENCE-ASTRONOMY-TELESCOPE

Radio telescope operator Lungelo Zondi (C), 25, and Sipho Molefe (R), 34 work at the MeerKAT radio control room in the South African Radio Astronomy Observatory (SARAO) head quarter in Cape Town, on April 15, 2025. The MeerKAT telescope is an array of 64 interlinked receptors, a complete antenna structure, with the main reflector, sub-reflector and all receivers, digitisers and other electronics installed. 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. MeerKAT was launched in 2018 and is located inside a radio quiet zone within the park. Along with the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA), also in South Africa, and two radio telescopes in Western Australia, the Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) and the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), the MeerKAT is one of four precursors to the final SKA. (Photo by MARCO LONGARI / AFP) (Photo by MARCO LONGARI/AFP via Getty Images)