New radio telescope at Brookhaven sees space in a different light

A new prototype radio telescope has begun observing the universe at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Brookhaven National Laboratory. Constructed by a team of scientists, engineers, carpenters, and students, the prototype telescope was funded through Brookhaven’s Laboratory Directed Research and Development program. Brookhaven scientists and collaborators will use the small prototype to test the merits of a radio telescope on-site at the Lab, develop new ways of attacking fundamental problems, and break into the field of 21 centimeter cosmology—the study of our universe’s origins through radio signals emitted by hydrogen gas in distant galaxies.