Silk Roads history challenges isolated-civilization stories

The inauguration marked a major South African contribution to global astronomy.

The array became a precursor to the wider Square Kilometre Array observatory.

The publication presents astronomy as a product of exchange among Chinese, Indian, Persian, Greek, Arab and Central Asian traditions.

Scholars compared inherited tables and models rather than simply copying them, producing new observations and calculations.

Large instruments, repeated measurements, mathematical tables and trained observers depended on patronage and coordinated labour.

The collaboration released a reconstructed radio image of the shadow of the black hole in M87.

Linked radio facilities across continents produced the data behind the image.

The published image shows glowing material surrounding a dark central region.

The achievement required many researchers and observatories, not a single telescope.

The timeline places Babylonian eclipse tablets and Chinese sunspot reports before telescopic European solar research.