Australian radio telescope begins operations

BBC : The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) uses 36 antennae that are each 12 m in diameter. The $155 million telescope, which was built at the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in the Western Australian desert, will take its first pictures today. While not an exceptionally large telescope, ASKAP makes use of new technology that allows it to scan the sky more quickly than existing telescopes. Its remote location limits the interference of manmade radio signals. John O’Sullivan of Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation says that the telescope will provide valuable research into early galaxy formation and the hunt for black holes. ASKAP is planned to be part of a larger multisite telescope called the Square Kilometre Array, which will have locations in Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.