Caltech Advances 1,650-Dish Nevada Telescope to Double Known Radio Sources in 24 Hours
Updated
Updated · NBC News · Jun 21
Caltech Advances 1,650-Dish Nevada Telescope to Double Known Radio Sources in 24 Hours
3 articles · Updated · NBC News · Jun 21
Summary
Caltech said the Deep Synoptic Array will move into construction after securing funding, putting a 1,650-dish radio telescope on track for Nevada’s White Pine County.
The array is designed to survey the sky 100 times faster than earlier ground-based systems and, according to project leaders, could match the roughly 20 million known radio sources in its first 24 hours.
Spread across more than 123 square miles, the 20-foot dishes are intended to combine the sensitivity of large single-dish telescopes with the sharper imaging of multi-dish arrays.
Researchers plan at least five sky surveys targeting fast radio bursts, pulsars and supermassive black holes, then handing precise locations to optical, infrared and X-ray observatories for follow-up.
Construction could start next year pending permits and finish by 2029, with Schmidt Sciences funding a project sited in the Great Basin for its unusually low radio interference.
This array will find 100,000 mysterious radio bursts. What cosmic secrets are they about to reveal?
With billionaires now building mega-telescopes, what does this mean for the future of scientific exploration?
As new telescopes create data tsunamis, can we afford to save the cosmic discoveries they will make?
Deep Synoptic Array: Building the World’s Largest 1,650-Dish Radio Telescope to Revolutionize Cosmic Discovery
Overview
The Deep Synoptic Array (DSA), led by Caltech, has moved from its design phase to active construction after securing funding and completing its final design review. With 1,650 radio dishes, each over 6 meters wide, the DSA will be the largest radio array ever built, spanning 20 by 16 kilometers in Nevada. This massive configuration will give the DSA exceptional sensitivity and the ability to produce crisp images of the radio sky, marking a transformative shift in radio astronomy from rough sketches to detailed photographs and opening new possibilities for cosmic discovery.