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)


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