Researchers and students at UNM are building one-of-a-kind telescopes that may reveal secrets of the universe.
The Plains of San Agustin near Socorro will be the site of 53 telescopes as part of the UNM Long Wavelength Array project. On Thursday, UNM researchers and students celebrated the completion of the first telescope with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the LWA research site.
Greg Taylor, LWA scientific director, said the telescopes could reveal new phenomena such as galaxies, gamma ray bursts, explosions and undiscovered planets.
“We might learn about magnetic fields in planetary systems and one day decide to visit them,” he said.
Each telescope has 256 antennas, which allow researchers to look at the universe with long wavelengths, said Lee Rickard, LWA executive project director.
Studying space at a low frequency is challenging because there are many higher-frequency signals coming from everyday products like computers or garage door openers, Taylor said.
Rickard said the first telescope isn’t fully operational yet, but it has collected some data.
He said the long wavelengths will change the way researchers look at space.
“This part of the spectrum hasn’t been explored before,” Taylor said. “We know we’ll see new types of
signal sources, including galaxies and objects.”
Taylor said New Mexico is the perfect state to build low-frequency telescopes because it isn’t densely populated. The plains are also spacious and empty, which makes them a perfect site for the large telescopes.
UNM students in physics, astronomy and electrical and civil engineering have been a vital part of the project, Rickard said. Students have designed how the antennas are laid out, dug trenches for cables and built antennas.
“One of the nice things about this kind of telescope is that it’s fairly easy to work with the construction and building the electronics,” he said. “We’re going to get students engaged in eventually all levels.”
Graduate students will also begin analyzing data once the telescope is fully operational in March 2011, Rickard said.
“Once we begin to get into operation we have a number of graduate students who are very anxious to play with the data for their projects,” he said.
Rickard said the telescopes offer a unique opportunity to students, since it’s the only technology of its kind.
“In a lot of astronomy these days, you get your data, but you don’t really get to work with the telescope itself,” he said. “This is going back to an older style of doing things, which we think is better for helping people understand what their data means.”
Rickard said the total project will cost about $75 million to construct, and the telescope that was just completed was about $75,000.
“These telescopes will help understand what is in the universe and our place in it,” Taylor said.
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