ASTRONOMY Masters students, Scott Eyono, Nivek Ghazi and Tankiso Moso, recently returned from an expedition to Marion Island, near the Sub-Antarctic region, led by astronomer Prof Cynthia Chiang.
While on the island, Prof Chiang and her students upgraded and debugged the Probing Radio Intensity at high-Z from Marion (PRIZM) radio telescope, and deployed the first autonomous antenna station that will form part of the eventual Array of Long Baseline Antennas for Taking Radio Observations from the Sub-Antarctic (ALBATROS).
The telescopes, built by Prof Chiang and her students, are being used to detect traces of the first stars that turned on in the universe.
In early April, Prof Chiang and her students visited Marion Island, notorious for high winds, rain and cold temperatures.
Because of its extremely remote location, the island has an exceptionally clean radio-frequency environment, with almost no contamination from transmissions such as radio stations.
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At the island, the team performed an installation of the first new ALBATROS telescope. The team also carried out routine maintenance and repairs on PRIZM in order to improve its performance.
The expedition lasted approximately one and a half months and saw the team flying from Durban to Cape Town and thereafter sailing on the SA Agulhas II ship for four days to Marion Island.
The island is only accessible by ship for a limited time each year.
Since there is no harbour infrastructure at Marion Island, the ship floated nearby until the weather permitted helicopter transport of the passengers to the island.
“Words are not enough to describe the phenomenal job that the students did. Because of their hard work, we were able to install, successfully integrate, and obtain first light on a brand new antenna system within eight days. That is truly a remarkable achievement for students who are so young and so new to the island,” said Chiang.
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