MEMORIES of the collapse of one of the world’s biggest radio telescopes can
be laid to rest, now that finishing touches are being made to its successor.
Engineers have installed the last of 2004 aluminium panels on a new 110-metre
dish at Green Bank in West Virginia, where a 91-metre dish collapsed in
1988.
The National Radio Astronomy Observatory’s colossal new dish will give
unprecedented views of distant galaxies in the throes of their formation,
revealing the chemical make-up of dust and gas inside. It will be better at
gathering radio waves with wavelengths of around 3 millimetres than any…
