World's largest radio telescope under new boss

[Judi Lynn]

World's largest radio telescope under new boss
By DANICA COTO, Associated Press – Tue Jun 7, 9:51 pm ET

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The world's largest single-dish radio telescope has received a five-year, multimillion-dollar funding commitment that new management says will allow scientists to probe the mysteries of imploded stars and maybe even lead to the detection of elusive gravitational waves predicted by Albert Einstein.

The Arecibo Observatory secured the funding this month amid looming budget cuts when the National Science Foundation awarded a $42 million contract to a consortium including California-based SRI International, a nonprofit research organization.

The consortium's takeover of the observatory is expected to occur in October. Located in Puerto Rico's lush north coast and featured in the movie "Contact" with actress Jodie Foster, the 1,000-foot-wide (305-meter-wide) telescope has been operated by Cornell University since 1963.

SRI's partners on the project include the Universities Space Research Association, a Maryland-based nonprofit corporation founded under the National Academy of Sciences.

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110608/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_puerto_rico_massive_telescope