Square Kilometre Array telescope goes up in Western Australia

William Atkins
Wednesday, 09 September 2009 18:51

Science - Space

The Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescope is being developed on a site at Boolardy in Western Australia. The telescope project hopes to bring the much larger SKA project to Australia, which is expected to provide many answers about the origins and evolution of the Universe.



According to the CSIRO media release “CSIRO sets science path for new telescope,” construction for the ASKAP radio telescope will start later in 2009 and the telescope is expected to be fully operational by 2013.

The site of the telescope project is at Boolardy in the northwest section of Western Australia, a remote outback region that is about 315 kilometers (190 miles) northeast of Geraldton.

When completed, It will consist of an array of thirty-six to forty-five 12-meter dishes.



[Image credit: Swinburne Astronomy Productions/CSIRO. Simulation of ASKAP.]

The Australian radio telescope array project (ASKAP) will have a total collecting area of approximately one square kilometer (0.4 square mile).

The director of the telescope, Dr. Brian Boyle, states, “ASKAP is open to projects from astronomers from all over the world, with projects determined according to their scientific merit, and operational feasibility…. Since 2008 we’ve had an open, international process to determine the key scientific questions ASKAP will address.” [CSIRO]

The prime focus of the ASKAP telescope array is large Survey Science Projects, which will take advantage of the large field of view provided by the telescope, along with its fast speed--what is being called "a large instantaneous field-of-view."

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