Allen Telescope Array facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Allen Telescope Array(ATA) |
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 The Allen Telescope Array (ATA-42), October 11, 2007
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| Organization | SETI Institute & Radio Astronomy Laboratory |
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| Location | Hat Creek Radio Observatory |
| Website | https://www.seti.org/ata |
The Allen Telescope Array (ATA) was developed by the SETI Institute and the Radio Astronomy Laboratory (RAL) at the University of California, Berkeley to construct a radio interferometer that is dedicated to radio astronomy observations. At the same time, it is also used for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.
It is named after Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft. Its old name was the One Hectare Telescope (1hT).
The ATA is at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory, 290 miles (470 km) northeast of San Francisco, California. The goal is to have 350 antennas.
To start, 42 antennas (ATA-42) were put to work on 11 October 2007. However, a lack of money stopped operations in April 2011. In August 2011, ATA got short-term funding.
In August 2014, the installation was threatened by a forest fire in the area and was briefly forced to shut down, but ultimately emerged largely unscathed.
As of 2016, the SETI Institute performs observations with the ATA between the hours of 6 pm and 6 am daily.
The ATA aspires to be among the world's largest and fastest observing instruments, and to permit astronomers to search many different target stars at the same time. When completed it will be one of the largest and most powerful telescopes in the world.
Images for kids
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The ATA Offset Gregorian Design
See also
In Spanish: Allen Telescope Array para niños
