LAS VEGAS (KSNV) — A massive new radio telescope array is coming to Nevada to probe some of the deepest reaches of the universe.
The California Institute of Technology (Caltech) announced it would lead the Deep Synoptic Array (DSA) after completing its final design review.
Caltech says the array, consisting of 1,650 radio dishes, will be built in a remote Nevada valley by 2029.
Once finished, the Deep Synoptic Array will be the most sensitive radio telescope ever built and will survey the sky 100 times faster than other radio telescopes in the world.
Researchers say this will help them discover radio emission from millions of stars, galaxies and probe everything from black holes to pulsars to dark matter, transforming radio astronomy.
“The DSA will survey the entire visible sky several times in its first five years at unprecedented speeds,” Gregg Hallinan, professor of astronomy at Caltech and principal investigator of the Deep Synoptic Array, said in a statement. “While all other radio telescopes combined have so far found about 20 million radio sources, the DSA will match that in the first day of operations. By the end of its initial survey, it will have discovered about 1 billion new radio sources.”
The array will also be able to generate images in real-time, which will be made available to the worldwide astronomical community.
“We want the whole world to also have access to the data just as quickly as we do,” Caltech’s Katie Jameson, the lead project manager, said in a statement. “The DSA functions like a photo lab that is developing these radio images in real time for all to use. Everyone will be able to probe the wonders of the radio universe right after the data are collected.”
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