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Photos: Searching for extra terrestrial intelligence
Antennas probing the horizon

By Daniel Terdiman

Published: Thursday 18 December 2008

Each of the antennas has a 20-foot-diameter main reflector, as well as a smaller sub-reflector, which contains a specialised receiver covered to protect it from the weather. The antennas can rotate at a speed of about four degrees per second, meaning they can shift from horizon to horizon in about a minute. The antennas work in pairs and the value of the array is that it provides a large number of different pair combinations, a number that will increase vastly as the array grows.

Photo credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News