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HOTSPOTTING
FOR reasons that have nothing to do with "hotspotting", I'm getting excited about the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project being hatched for Western Australia.
It was reading the comments of a CSIRO astronomer that got me going.
Brian Boyle, who was appointed in February as CSIRO's SKA director, says that within its first week of operation, the $3 billion radio telescope would generate more information than "the total amount of words ever spoken by humanity".
The SKA will have 2000 dishes, each 12 metres wide, which will comprise the most powerful telescope ever made.
It has a discovery potential 10,000 times greater than the best present-day instruments. It will allow us to see further into the universe than ever before.
It will help answer questions about the evolution of the universe, search for Earth-like planets around other stars, explore black holes and seek answers to other big cosmological conundrums.
"It will give astronomers remarkable insights into the formation of the early universe, including the emergence of the first stars, galaxies and other structures," says federal Science Minister Kim Carr.
All WA has to do to make the project a reality is beat off the challenge from South Africa, the only other competitor for the SKA. If it succeeds, many jobs will be created and Geraldton's...