World's most sensitive radio telescope array set to be built in Nevada desert [View all]

Source: NBC News

June 21, 2026, 6:00 AM EDT


Nestled in the Great Basin, a remote stretch of the Nevada desert is set to become home to the world’s most sensitive radio telescope array.

The California Institute of Technology, which is leading the project, announced last week that it is moving ahead with the telescope’s construction after securing enough funding. Known as the Deep Synoptic Array, the project calls for 1,650 individual radio dishes that together will study supermassive black holes, spinning dead stars known as pulsars and fast radio bursts, which are brief, intense explosions of radio waves that often originate from deep space.

“It’s the sheer number of antennas that makes this completely unique and unlike other existing telescopes,” said Gregg Hallinan, a professor of astronomy at Caltech and a principal investigator for the Deep Synoptic Array.

Radio telescopes detect naturally occurring radio waves emitted by stars, planets, galaxies and other celestial objects. Astronomers can analyze the unique patterns of radio emissions from these sources to understand their structure, composition and other characteristics such as temperature. Radio telescopes don’t snap photos in the same way as optical observatories, but the trove of resulting radio signals can be converted into data and turned into images.

Read more: https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/radio-telescope-array-nevada-desert-rcna350710