The renaissance of radio astronomy: towards the Square Kilometre Array

Université Côte d'Azur, OCA, CNRS, Laboratoire Lagrange, Boulevard de l'Observatoire, CS 34229, 06304 Nice Cedex 4, France

Abstract

In this paper, I will give a brief overview of the largest radio telescope in the world, the Square Kilometre Array (SKA). The history of this instrument, its development as a huge international project, as well as its main scientific goals, will be summarised. I will then focus on a particular science case by presenting how the first phase of the SKA (SKA1), whose observations are expected to start in the early 2020's, will change our radio view of the largest gravitationally bound structures of the Universe: galaxy clusters.