Listening to the Universe From a Feed 500 Meters High

From: Sam Wormley (swormley1_at_mchsi.com)
Date: 08/01/04 

Date: Sun, 01 Aug 2004 04:21:09 GMT

Ref: http://www.gpsworld.com/gpsworld/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=105039

Listening to the Universe From a Feed 500 Meters High

  Researchers stand at the brink of understanding the
  origin and evolution of the Universe, brought there by
  new developments in all fields of astronomy. Radio
  telescopes play a key role in this exploration by
  providing insight into the composition, structure, and
  motion of astronomical bodies through the study of the
  radio waves they emit. They have revealed many phenomena,
  including quasars, pulsars, and radiation believed to be
  a remnant of the Big Bang. However, current radio
  telescopes are reaching their height of sensitivity,
  limiting future discoveries. The next major step to
  explore the earliest epochs of the Universe will require
  new, more sensitive radio telescopes.

  An international consortium of radio astronomers and
  engineers aims to address this problem with the Square
  Kilometer Array (SKA). The SKA project plans to increase
  the collecting area, the fundamental factor governing
  sensitivity, to one million square meters, two orders of
  magnitude more than existing radio telescopes. This will
  enable astronomers to probe the gaseous component of the
  early Universe to study the first stars, galaxies, and
  quasars. The SKA will consist of an interferometric array
  of individual antenna stations, synthesizing an aperture
  with a diameter of up to several thousand kilometers.
  Seven proposals are being developed internationally for
  the SKA design. A Canadian team, led by a group at the
  National Research Council's (NRC) Dominion Radio
  Astrophysical Observatory (DRAO), has explored the
  concept of a Large Adaptive Reflector (LAR).
  
Ref: http://www.gpsworld.com/gpsworld/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=105039

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