World's Most Powerful Telescope In Oz Outback
World's Most Powerful Telescope In Oz Outback
If there is life outside Earth, a new "super telescope" unveiled in the Australian outback could be the best hope of finding it.
8:01am UK, Sunday 07 October 2012
By Jonathan Samuels, Australia Correspondent
If there is life outside our planet, a new "super telescope" unveiled in the Australian outback could be the best hope yet of finding it.
Some 400 miles from the nearest city in Western Australia, the colossal new radio telescope consists of more than 30 dishes linked together.
Dr Megan Clark, chief executive of Australia's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), said: "What's really different is that we used to be able to look at small parts of the sky and look at the super galaxies.
"We could only really do that from an area about the size of your small fingernail. Now, with this new leap forward, we can scan areas of the sky as big as your hand.
More:
http://news.sky.com/story/994270/worlds-most-powerful-telescope-in-oz-outback