HERA: The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array

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HERA: The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array

Post by bystander » Thu Sep 15, 2016 1:44 am

HERA, the ‘Cosmic Dawn’ Telescope, Receives Major NSF Support
National Radio Astronomy Observatory | 2016 Sep 14

The National Science Foundation (NSF) has approved $9.5 million in funding to expand the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) – a multinational experiment to study how primordial galaxies forever changed the very early universe. This investment will increase the number of HERA antennas from 19 to 240 by the year 2018.

HERA’s upgraded observing power will enable it to study more clearly the impact of cosmic dawn, the moment a few hundred million years after the Big Bang when the first stars and galaxies blazed awake.

This event marked the beginning of the epoch of reionization, the roughly billion-year period in the history of the universe when intergalactic space transitioned from a cold, diffuse fog of neutral hydrogen to the brightly lit ionized cosmos we see today. Understanding how this happened and how it helped shape the early universe represents the next frontier in observational cosmology and studies of the origin of structure in the universe. ...

What Happened After the Lights Came On in the Universe?
University of California, Berkeley | 2016 Sep 14

An experiment to explore the aftermath of cosmic dawn, when stars and galaxies first lit up the universe, has received nearly $10 million in funding from the National Science Foundation to expand its detector array in South Africa.

The experiment, an international collaboration called the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array, or HERA, currently has 19 14-meter (42-foot) radio dishes aimed at the southern sky near Carnarvon, South Africa, and will soon up that to 37. The $9.5 million in new funding will allow the array to expand to 240 radio dishes by 2018.

Led by UC Berkeley, HERA will explore the billion-year period after hydrogen gas collapsed into the first stars, perhaps 100 million years after the Big Bang, through the ignition of stars and galaxies throughout the universe. These first brilliant objects flooded the universe with ultraviolet light that split or ionized all the hydrogen atoms between galaxies into protons and electrons to create the universe we see today. ...

HERA Telescope in the Karoo Gets $9.5M Funding Injection
Square Kilometer Array, South Africa | 2016 Sep 14

The Hydrogen Epoch of Reionisation Array (HERA) brings more international funding to South Africa with a $9.5 million investment to expand its capabilities, as announced today by the US National Science Foundation. HERA is located only a few kilometres from the MeerKAT radio telescope, which began initial science operations in July, marked by Department of Science and Technology Minister Naledi Pandor.

HERA, which was recently granted the status of a Square Kilometre Array (SKA) precursor telescope, currently has 19, 14-metre radio dishes at the SKA South Africa Losberg site near Carnarvon. These will soon be increased to 37. The $9.5 million in new funding, will allow the array to expand to 220 radio dishes by 2018.

This innovative telescope aims to detect the distinctive signature that would allow astronomers to understand the formation and evolution of the very first luminous sources: the first stars and galaxies in the Universe. The HERA radio telescope follows in the footsteps of a precursor instrument called PAPER (Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionisation) also located in the Karoo. ...
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