Hat Creek Radio Observatory facts for kids

Quick facts for kids

The Hat Creek Radio Observatory (HCRO) is a special place in the Western United States. It's like a giant ear that listens to sounds from space! This observatory is run by SRI International. It's also home to the Allen Telescope Array, which was built by the SETI Institute.

Where is the Observatory?

The Hat Creek Radio Observatory is about 467 kilometers (290 miles) northeast of San Francisco, California. It sits high up, at 986 meters (3,235 feet) above Sea level. You can find it in Hat Creek, California, which is in Shasta County, California.

The exact spot is: 40° 49' 03" N (north) and 121° 28' 24" W (west). The closest big city is Redding, California, which is on highway I-5.

A Look Back in Time

The Hat Creek Radio Observatory was started in the late 1950s. It was created by a group from the University of California, Berkeley called the Radio Astronomy Laboratory.

In 1962, a large 85-foot antenna was set up. This antenna worked for many years until 1993, when a strong wind storm caused it to collapse. Using this antenna, astronomers made an exciting discovery: they found the very first astrophysical maser. A maser is like a laser, but it uses microwaves instead of light.

The university managed the observatory until 2012. After that, SRI International took over running the site.

Early Experiments

Scientists started doing experiments with millimeter-wave astronomy at this site in the 1970s. They built a special setup with two antennas working together. This was called a 2-element interferometer.

From 1980 to 1985, they built an even bigger setup with three antennas. Then, between 1990 and 1992, four more antennas were added.

After the 85-foot antenna was lost, three more antennas were added to the millimeter array. This made a total of 10 antennas working together! This group of antennas became known as BIMA.

Moving On

In the spring of 2005, the BIMA telescopes were moved. They joined other millimeter antennas to become part of a new project. This project was called the Combined Array for Research in Millimeter-wave Astronomy (CARMA). Moving BIMA also made space for the new Allen Telescope Array (ATA) to be built at Hat Creek.

• Hat Creek Radio Astronomy Facilities
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  This is what the completed ATA-350 was planned to look like.

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  The CARMA telescopes in their D-array setup.