South Africa and Australia to build largest radio telescope

2012/06/04 Carton Virto, Eider - Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Astronomia

At the end of last May the construction of the Square Kilometre Array telescope was announced in South Africa and Australia. The competition between the two finalist sites has been enormous and those responsible for the telescope have not wanted to bet on one or the other.

The Square Kilometre Array will consist of more than 3,000 interconnected parabolic antennas and many other conventional antennas that, at the same time, will act as kilometer of surface. It will be the largest radio telescope in the world and 50 times more sensitive than current devices. Through the telescope astronomers want to investigate the first moments of the universe, the times when the first stars and galaxies began to form, 100 million years after the Bing Bang.

The telescope will involve an investment of 1.5 billion euros and will begin to be built in 2016 until 2024. According to those responsible, the distribution of the telescope in two zones will increase by 10% the first phase of the project and complicate it technically, but they have preferred to do so in one country.