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On Monday, September 15, at the Nicolaus Copernicus University Astronomical Observatory in Piwnice, Prof. Wojciech Macyk, PhD, Vice-Rector for Science at the Jagiellonian University, signed an agreement establishing the Polish Consortium for the SKA Observatory project.
The SKAO consortium, along with our University, consists of: Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń as the project coordinator, University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn, National Center for Nuclear Research, University of Zielona Góra, University of Szczecin, Nicolaus Copernicus Astronomical Center of the Polish Academy of Sciences, and University of Warsaw.
SKA (Square Kilometre Array) Observatory Observatory is an international initiative to build the world's largest radio astronomy observatory, where the total area of antennas collecting radio waves will be one square kilometer. The SKAO radio telescopes will be located in the southern hemisphere, and the entire project is unique on a global scale: its complexity and costs can only be compared to the construction of the Large Hadron Collider. The establishment of the Polish Consortium for the SKA Observatory project is the first and important step towards our country's participation in this huge international venture.
It is worth noting that Poland has a long tradition of radio astronomy, dating back to the 1950s. The first Polish radio telescope was built at our Astronomical Observatory at the Jagiellonian University, where intensive radio astronomy research is still conducted today.
One of the instruments used is the LOFAR (Low Frequency Array) interferometer station located in Łazy near Krakow. Poland has the largest number of LOFAR stations (following the Netherlands and Germany) – the other two are located in Bałdy near Olsztyn (University of Warmia and Mazury in Olsztyn) and in Borówiec near Poznań (Space Research Centre of the Polish Academy of Sciences).
Pictured: the ceremony marking the signing of the agreement establishing the Consortium, Prof. Wojciech Macyk, Vice-Rector for Science at the Jagiellonian University, second from the left. Photo: Andrzej Romański.
