Radio astronomy in Africa: the case of Ghana

Abstract

South Africa has played a leading role in radio astronomy in Africa with the Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory (HartRAO). It continues to make strides with the current seven-dish MeerKAT precursor array (KAT-7), leading to the 64-dish MeerKAT and the giant Square Kilometer Array (SKA), which will be used for transformational radio astronomy research. Ghana, an African partner to the SKA, has been mentored by South Africa over the past six years and will soon emerge in the field of radio astronomy. The country will soon have a science-quality 32m dish converted from a redundant satellite communication antenna. Initially, it will be fitted with 5 GHz and 6.7 GHz receivers to be followed later by a 1.4 -1.7 GHz receiver. The telescope is being designed for use as a single dish observatory and for participation in the developing African Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) Network (AVN) and the European VLBI Network. Ghana is earmarked to host a remote station during a possible SKA Phase 2. The country's location of 5 • north of the Equator gives it the distinct advantage of viewing the entire plane of the Milky Way galaxy and nearly the whole sky. In this article, we present Ghana's story in the radio astronomy scene and the science/technology that will soon be carried out by engineers and astronomers.

Radio Astronomical Antennas in the Central African Region to Improve the Sampling Function of the VLBI Network in the SKA Era?

“…Ghana has already successfully converted its old telecommunication dish into a functioning radio telescope [ 6 ]. This is a demonstration that Africa can participate in high-level scientific research.…”

“…In the African context (excluding South Africa), and given the effort already spent on it, we conservatively base indications for minimal specifications for joining the AVN on the GRAO ones listed below. We base most of this section on [ 6 , 10 , 13 ].…”

“…The converted antennas will then become part of a network of antennas distributed throughout Africa to form the African VLBI Network (AVN) [ 5 ]. Ghana has already successfully converted its old telecommunication dish to a working radio telescope [ 6 ]. Efforts to do the same in other African partner countries are underway.…”

High-resolution radio astronomy: an outlook for Africa

“…The Ghana Radio Astronomy Observatory in Kuntunse (also spelled sometimes as Kutunse or Nkuntunse), located about 25 km north-west of the capital city of Accra, is the first AVN observatory undergoing extensive refurbishment of its instrumentation (Asabere et al 2015). Its 32m antenna (Fig.…”

Placing the Cosmic Background: The Ghana Radio Astronomy Observatory as an Ambient Infrastructure

“…003 • Infrastructure on/off Earth Roadsides Recent years have seen an acceleration and proliferation of space science initiatives across the African continent. Ghana and Kenya established official space programs in 2012 and in 2016 Ethiopia and the African Union adopted a Space Policy (Asabere et al 2015). These add to existing initiatives in South Africa and Nigeria, inscribing them in both continental and international networks (Camilo 2018;Pović et al 2018).…”