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Photos: Searching for extra terrestrial intelligence
Antennas probing the horizon

By Daniel Terdiman

Published: Thursday 18 December 2008

The Hat Creek Radio Observatory, in Northern California, is home to the Allen Telescope Array. The ATA, as it's called, is a collection of radio antennas, that together make up the world's first telescope dedicated to the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (Seti) project.

Currently, the array is made up of 42 individual antennas, each of which is 20 feet in diameter. Eventually, the array will consist of 350 antennas, and in total, will have the ability to look at 2,500 times the amount of sky as the famous 73,000-square-foot Aricebo dish in Puerto Rico.

The Allen Telescope Array is a joint project between Seti and UC Berkeley's Astronomy department, and it is funded largely by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

Photo credit: Isaac Gary