MeerKat, the largest radio telescope in the southern hemisphere, joins the search for extraterrestrial technology

The meerkatthe longest radio telescope in the southern hemisphere, has joined the search for technosignaturessigns that indicate the presence of technology developed by extraterrestrial intelligence.

According to the report published on the website of Engadgeta new instrument used by the radiotelescopepip, which is located in a remote region of South Africa, will increase the number of targets the Breakthrough Listen project can observe by a factor of 1,000.

A team of engineers and astronomers involved in this initiative, who is looking for signs of intelligent extraterrestrial lifespent three years working on the instrument, which is said to be the most powerful piece of equipment ever deployed to assist in the search for technology signatures.

The instrument is integrated with MeerKAT monitoring and control systems. In addition, Breakthrough Listen is already using the Green Bank Telescope (GBT) in West Virginia, the Parkes Telescope in Australia, and others in its search for technology signatures.

How is MeerKat different from other radio telescopes?

MeerKAT differs in the fact that there is no need to physically move any of its 64 antennaswhich can monitor an area of ​​sky 50 times larger than the GBT can see at one time.

Dr. Andrew Siemion, Principal Investigator of the Breakthrough Listen project, explained: “Such a large field of view usually contains many stars that are interesting technology signature targets.”.

“Our new supercomputer allows us to combine signals from all 64 dishes to obtain high-resolution scans of these targets with excellent sensitivity, all without affecting the research of other astronomers using the array.”, he added.

In addition to being able to monitor a larger area of ​​the sky at any one time, the ability to scan 64 objects at once will help detect and rule out interfering signals from human-launched spacecraft, such as satellites.