Highly sensitive radio telescope array to be built in Nevada desert

A radio telescope project known as the Deep Synoptic Array is moving forward. It aims to detect radio waves emitted by stars, planets, galaxies and other celestial objects.

Nestled in the Great Basin, a remote stretch of the Nevada desert is set to become home to the world’s most sensitive radio telescope array.

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The California Institute of Technology, which is leading the project, announced last week that it is moving ahead with the telescope’s construction after securing enough funding. Known as the Deep Synoptic Array, the project calls for 1,650 individual radio dishes that together will study supermassive black holes, spinning dead stars known as pulsars and fast radio bursts, which are brief, intense explosions of radio waves that often originate from deep space.

“It’s the sheer number of antennas that makes this completely unique and unlike other existing telescopes,” said Gregg Hallinan, a professor of astronomy at Caltech and a principal investigator for the Deep Synoptic Array.