The first image from the international SKA Observatory’s telescope in Australia, SKA-Low, has been released on 17 March 2025 – a significant milestone in its quest to reveal an unparalleled view of our Universe. The image shows an area of sky of about 25 square degrees – equivalent to approximately 100 full Moons. In it we see around 85 of the brightest known galaxies in that region, all of which contain supermassive black holes. Read more.
Image: © SKAO; The first image from an early working version of the SKA Observatory’s SKA-Low telescope, which is currently under construction on Wajarri Yamaji Country in Western Australia. The dots in the image look like stars but are in fact some of the brightest galaxies in the Universe, seen in radio light. These galaxies are billions of light years away and each contains a supermassive black hole. Gas orbiting around black holes is very hot and moves quickly, emitting energy in X-rays and radio waves. SKA-Low can detect these radio waves that have travelled billions of light years across the Universe to reach Earth. At the centre of the image is one of only a handful of galaxies known to expel jets of matter that are visible in both optical and radio light.