• DOI:10.1109/JPROC.2009.2017103
• Corpus ID: 7486677

The Allen Telescope Array: The First Widefield, Panchromatic, Snapshot Radio Camera for Radio Astronomy and SETI

@article{Welch2009TheAT,
  title={The Allen Telescope Array: The First Widefield, Panchromatic, Snapshot Radio Camera for Radio Astronomy and SETI},
  author={Jack Welch and Donald Charles Backer and Leo Blitz and Douglas C.-J. Bock and Geoffrey C. Bower and Calvin Cheng and Steve Croft and Matt Dexter and Greg Engargiola and Ed Fields and James Forster and Colby Gutierrez-Kraybill and Carl Heiles and Tamara Helfer and Susanne Jorgensen and Garrett K. Keating and John Lugten and David Macmahon and Oren Milgrome and Douglas Thornton and Lynn Urry and Joeri van Leeuwen and Dan Werthimer and Peter H. Williams and Melvyn C. H. Wright and Jill Tarter and Robert Ackermann and Shannon Atkinson and Peter R. Backus and William C. Barott and Tucker Bradford and Michael Davis and David R. DeBoer and John Dreher and Gerry R. Harp and Jane Jordan and Tom Kilsdonk and Tom Pierson and Kate E. Randall and John Ross and G. Seth Shostak and Matt Fleming and Christopher P. Cork and Artyom Vitouchkine and Niklas Wadefalk and Sander Weinreb},
  journal={Proceedings of the IEEE},
  year={2009},
  volume={97},
  pages={1438-1447}
}

• J. Welch, D. Backer, +43 authors S. Weinreb
• Published 6 April 2009
• Physics
• Proceedings of the IEEE

The first 42 elements of the Allen Telescope Array (ATA-42) are beginning to deliver data at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory in northern California. Scientists and engineers are actively exploiting all of the flexibility designed into this innovative instrument for simultaneously conducting surveys of the astrophysical sky and conducting searches for distant technological civilizations. This paper summarizes the design elements of the ATA, the cost savings made possible by the use of commercial off-the-shelf components, and the cost/performance tradeoffs that eventually enabled this first snapshot radio camera. The fundamental scientific program of this new telescope is varied and exciting; some of the first astronomical results will be discussed.