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Sixty-five astronomers from 12 countries will take part in an international workshop, held this week in Perth, Western Australia, to discuss advances on the path to the 1.5 billion Euro Square Kilometre Array (SKA).

The astronomers will discuss technologies used to connect radio telescopes across continent-scale distances, critical for extending the SKA over at least 3,000 kilometres.

They will also discuss the science that the SKA will undertake, including the study of distant black holes, rapidly rotating neutron stars called pulsars, and the investigation of solar system formation, that is watching planets form around stars in our Galaxy.

The head of the Scientific Organising Committee for the workshop, Professor Steven Tingay, from the International Centre for Radio Astronomy Research (ICRAR) at Curtin University, said the workshop was a great opportunity for the international community to come together and discuss what was needed to build the SKA.