‘Dazzling array of science’ detailed in new SKAO book
A new anthology of SKAO science has been released presenting an up-to-date picture of the vast range of astronomical research that will be enabled by the SKA telescopes.
From left: An artist's impression of the future SKA-Mid dishes blend into the existing precursor MeerKAT telescope dishes in South Africa.
From right: A artist's impression of the future SKA-Low stations blends into the existing antennas in Australia.
Advancing Astrophysics II is a testament to the global science collaboration behind the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO), with contributions from more than 1,500 scientists in 51 countries, a community extending far beyond the Observatory’s member countries. With 221 peer-reviewed papers, plus an introduction from SKAO Chief Scientist Prof. Naomi McClure- Griffiths, the book details scientists’ plans for observations across all areas of SKA science.
“This collection of papers show not only the dazzling array of science our community will seek to address with the SKA telescopes when complete, but also how the community has grown in size and ambition since our last science book in 2015, with hundreds more contributors this time,” said Prof. McClure-Griffiths.
SKAO Head of Scientific Services Dr Anna Bonaldi said: “The science cases presented here will shape the SKAO's scientific strategy as the arrays grow towards completion, and inform priorities for upgrades and the continued evolution of the Observatory's capabilities in the coming years.”
The SKA telescopes are currently under construction in Australia and South Africa, and have begun test observations with partial arrays. SKA-Low, which will ultimately have 131,072 antennas, released its first test image using 1,024 antennas in March 2025. The same milestone is expected for SKA-Mid later this year using four dishes. It will eventually have 197 dishes, incorporating SARAO's existing MeerKAT radio telescope.
The telescopes are being delivered through a phased approach and will start to surpass the capabilities of current facilities part-way through construction, at the stage known as Array Assembly 2 (68 SKA-Low stations and 66 SKA-Mid dishes).
The anthology is divided into six broad sections:
- Sun, Earth and planets
- Formation and evolution of Stars
- From the Milky Way to distant galaxies
- The Cosmos
- The extreme Universe
- Methods and techniques
“Our science explores the Universe across every scale and physical regime, leveraging the SKA telescopes’ transformational sensitivity, survey speed, and imaging capabilities, together with powerful synergies across the world's leading facilities," Dr Bonaldi said. “The number of submissions also makes clear that the science community’s enthusiasm is only growing as we get closer to the first SKAO science.”
The papers are available online through arXiv, with access also on the SKAO website.