An ambitious project to search for signs of extraterrestrial intelligence in outer space began on Thursday with the activation of a new radio telescope array in California.

Dr. J.R. Forster, resident astronomer at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory, looks out on the Allen Telescope Array on Tuesday.
(Ben Margot/Associated Press)

The first 42 of an eventual 350 radio dishes in the Allen Telescope Array (ATA) have begun collecting scientific data from the far reaches of the universe, according to the University of California, Berkeley and the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, the two scientific groups behind the project.

Working together, these radio dishes create a telescope with a wide field of view ideally suited to rapidly surveying the sky.

The array is named for Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder and billionaire who is the primary funder of the project.

Radio telescopes look at radio wave signals, or low-frequency electromagnetic radiation, from outer space. Stars and pulsars are naturally occurring producers of these signals. The array is expected to improve knowledge of deep space phenomena such as supernovas and the black holes found at the centre of galaxies.

The new array, located in an arid valley near the town of Hat Creek in northern California, also gives the SETI institute a powerful new tool to search for radio signals that cannot be explained by natural phenomena.

"The ATA’s technical capabilities exponentially increase our ability to search for intelligent signals, and may lead to the discovery of thinking beings elsewhere in the universe," said astronomer Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute in a statement. "It is the first major telescope in the world built specifically for undertaking a search for extraterrestrial intelligence."

The ATA is an innovative design for a radio telescope array in that it uses small — six metres in diameter — and mass-produced dishes to do the work normally performed by fewer large dishes.

Allen's charitable foundation donated $25 million US to the project. The project is still seeking funding to cover the $50 million needed to complete the array.