The SKA precursor telecope MeerKAT as a galaxy evolution explorer

MeerKAT is a radio telescope situated in South Africa's Karoo desert. It has recently been built as an SKA demonstrator and precursor telescope and was inaugurated in August 2018. Since then it has proven to be the world's most sensitive 20cm interferometer and is slowly moving towards standard operation. Thanks to its array layout MeerKAT is a superb telescope to observe in particular the HI line, hence tracing the most abundant atom in its transitional neutral phase, as well as 20cm continuum emission. Surveys of the HI line with MeerKAT can be used to constrain theories of galaxy dynamics and evolution and in particular serve to shed more light into the star formation cycle in galaxies. I will describe MeerKAT, discuss its status, and motivate immanent surveys by reporting on results of the most sensitive HI survey so far -- the HALOGAS survey with the Westerbork Radio Synthesis Telescope --. I will then present early results of selected MeerKAT observations, including some details about processing and analysis, to finally give an outlook of upcoming MeerKAT surveys.