World's Largest Telescope (Forwarded)

Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council
Swindon, U.K.

Contact Information:

Press:

Julia Maddock, PPARC Press Office
Tel: 01793 442 094

Science:

Prof Peter Wilkinson, UK SKADS Principal Investigator
University of Manchester
Jodrell Bank Observatory
Macclesfield
Cheshire
SK11 9DL
UK
Tel: +44 (0)1477 572 602 (Day)
Fax : +44 (0)1477 571 618

Ir Arnold van Ardenne, SKADS Project Coordinator
P.O. Box 2
7990 AA Dwingeloo
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 (0)521 595 100 (day)
Fax: +31 (0)521 597 332

Prof Richard Schilizzi, International SKA Director
International SKA Project Office
c/o ASTRON
P.O Box 2, 7990 AA Dwingeloo
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 (0) 521 595 270/271 (day)
Fax: +31 (0) 521 597 332

Other Team Leaders for UK SKA Programme

Prof Steve Rawlings
Dept of Astrophysics, University of Oxford
Tel: +44 (0)1865 273 352 (day)

Dr Paul Alexander
Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge
Tel: +44 (0)1223 337 477 (day)

Prof Steve Eales
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Wales, Cardiff
Tel: +44 (0)29 20 876 168(day)

Dr Graham Woan
Dept of Physics and Astronomy, University of Glasgow
Tel: +44 (0)141 330 5897(day)

Dr Melvin Hoare
Dept of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leeds
Tel: +44 (0)113 233 3864(day)

18 January 2006

World's Largest Telescope

European funding has now been agreed to start designing the world's
largest telescope. The "Square Kilometre Array" (SKA) will be an
international radio telescope with a collecting area of one million
square metres -- equivalent to about 200 football pitches -- making SKA
200 times bigger than the University of Manchester's Lovell Telescope at
Jodrell Bank and so the largest radio telescope ever constructed. Such a
telescope would be so sensitive that it could detect TV Broadcasts
coming from the nearest stars.

The four-year Square Kilometre Array Design Study (SKADS) will bring
together European and international astronomers to formulate and agree
the most effective design. The final design will enable the SKA to probe
the cosmos in unprecedented detail, answering fundamental questions
about the Universe, such as "what is dark energy?" and "how did the
structure we see in galaxies today actually form?".

The new telescope will test Einstein's General Theory of Relativity to
the limit -- and perhaps prove it wrong. It is certain to add to the
long list of fundamental discoveries already made by radio astronomers
including quasars, pulsars and the radiation left over from the Big
Bang. By the end of this decade the design will be complete and
astronomers anticipate building SKA in stages, leading to completion and
full operation in 2020.

The SKA concept was first proposed to observe the characteristic radio
emission from hydrogen gas. Measurements of the hydrogen signature will
enable astronomers to locate and weigh a billion galaxies.

As the University of Manchester's Prof Peter Wilkinson points out,
"Hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe, but its signal
is weak and so a huge collecting area is needed to be able to study it
at the vast distances that take us back in time towards the Big Bang".
To which Prof Steve Rawlings, University of Oxford, adds,"The
distribution of these galaxies in space tells us how the universe has
evolved since the Big Bang and hence about the nature of the Dark Energy
which is now making the universe expand faster with time".

Another target for the SKA is pulsars -- spinning remnants of stellar
explosions which are the most accurate clocks in the universe. A million
times the mass of the Earth but only the size of a large city, pulsars
can spin around hundreds of times per second. Already these amazing
objects have enabled astronomers to confirm Einstein's prediction of
gravitational waves, but University of Manchester's Dr Michael Kramer is
looking further ahead. "With the SKA we will find a pulsar orbiting a
black hole and, by watching how the clock rate varies, we can tell if
Einstein had the last word on gravity or not", he says.

Prof Richard Schilizzi, the International SKA Project Director, stresses
the scale of the instrument needed to fulfil these science goals.
"Designing and then building, such an enormous technologically-advanced
instrument is beyond the scope of individual nations. Only by harnessing
the ideas and resources of countries around the world is such a project
possible". Astronomers in Australia, South Africa, Canada, India, China
and the USA are collaborating closely with colleagues in Europe to
develop the required technology which will include sophisticated
electronics and powerful computers that will play a far bigger role than
in the present generation of radio telescopes. The European effort is
based on phased array receivers, similar to those in aircraft radar
systems. When placed at the focus of conventional mass-produced radio
'dishes', these arrays operate like wide-angle radio cameras enabling
huge areas of sky to be observed simultaneously. A separate, much
larger, phased array at the centre of the SKA will act like a radio
fish-eye lens, constantly scanning the sky.

Funding for this global design programme has been provided by the
European Commission's Framework 6 'Design Studies' programme, which is
contributing about 27% of the total Euro 38M [USD 46 million] funding
over the next four years. Individual countries are contributing the
remainder. The UK has invested £5.6M (Euro 8.3M [USD 10 million])
funding provided by PPARC.

When coupled with the UK's share of the EC contribution, then the UK's
overall contribution to the SKA Design Study (SKADS) programme is about
30% of the total.

The Euro 38M European technology development programme is funded by the
European Commission and governments in eight countries led by the
Netherlands, the UK, France and Italy. The programme is being
coordinated by Ir. Arnold van Ardenne, Head of Emerging Technologies at
The Netherlands ASTRON Institute. In van Ardenne's view "the critical
task is to demonstrate that large numbers of electronic arrays can be
built cost effectively -- so that our dreams of radio cameras and radio
fish-eye lenses can be turned into reality".

In the UK, a group of universities currently including Manchester,
Oxford, Cambridge, Leeds and Glasgow, funded by PPARC, is involved in
all aspects of the design but is concentrating on sophisticated digital
phased arrays and the distribution and analysis of the enormous volumes
of data which the SKA will produce. University of Cambridge's Dr Paul
Alexander makes the point that "the electronics in the SKA makes it very
flexible and allows for completely new ways of scanning the sky. But to
make it work will require massive computing power". Designers believe
that by the time the SKA reaches full operation, 14 years from now, a
new generation of computers will be up to the task.

The geographical location of SKA will be decided in the mid-term future
and several nations have already expressed interest in hosting this
state of the art astronomical facility.

Notes for Editors:

Websites

International SKA Project,
http://www.skatelescope.org/

The latest fully-illustrated colour brochure provides a self-contained
description of the international SKA project and can be browsed or
downloaded from the University of Manchester's Jodrell Bank website,
http://jb.man.ac.uk/ska/brochure/

The European SKADS website,
http://www.skads-eu.org/

The European R&D programme is called "SKADS" (for SKA Design Study). The
SKADS Consortium consists of 29 institutes in eight EC countries (the
main contributors being the UK, The Netherlands, France and Italy) and
four non-EC countries (Australia, South Africa, Canada and Russia).
SKADS is coordinated by Ir. Arnold van Ardenne of The Netherland's
Astronomical Institute ASTRON.

The catalyst for building the SKADS team has been the European
Commission's Framework 6 'Design Studies' programme which is
contributing about 27% of the total Euro 38M funding over the next four
years. Individual countries are contributing the remainder. In the UK
the £5.6M (Euro 8.3M) funding is provided by PPARC, and together with
the UK's share of the EC contribution, takes the UK investment in SKADS
to about 30% of the total.

About PPARC,
http://www.pparc.ac.uk/ap/intro.asp

IMAGE CAPTION:
[http://www.pparc.ac.uk/nw/SKAstation1.jpg (2.7MB)]
An image of how one element of the SKA might look. (Credit: Chris Fluke,
Swinburn University of Technology)

European funding has now been agreed to start designing the world's
largest telescope. The "Square Kilometre Array" (SKA) will be an
international radio telescope with a collecting area of one million
square metres -- equivalent to about 200 football pitches -- making SKA
200 times bigger than the University of Manchester's Lovell Telescope at
Jodrell Bank and so the largest radio telescope ever constructed. Such a
telescope would be so sensitive that it could detect TV Broadcasts
coming from the nearest stars.


Mmmm astronmy and entertainement can meet maybe?

Getting TV from the nearest star could make for a change from this
stupid earth TV. :-)

Maybe Kang and Kodos have an animated sitcom, and Homer and Bart
Simpson visit their planet.

On a sunny day (21 Jan 2006 10:08:45 GMT) it happened CeeBee
wrote in
4:

Andrew Yee wrote in sci.astro:

Such a
telescope would be so sensitive that it could detect TV Broadcasts
coming from the nearest stars.

That makes one realize quite uncomfortably that they could also build a
telescope able to detect _our_ TV broadcasts.
And bypassing DRM ;-)?

Dear CeeBee:

"CeeBee" wrote in message
2.164...
Andrew Yee wrote in sci.astro:

Such a
telescope would be so sensitive that it could detect
TV Broadcasts coming from the nearest stars.

That makes one realize quite uncomfortably that
they could also build a telescope able to detect
_our_ TV broadcasts.

There are a few programs that are not embarrassing. Maybe they
won't come and invade, or bombard us with cream pies...

David A. Smith