Stargazing Can the Arecibo Radio Telescope Eavesdrop on the Entire Galaxy?

[Gold Barz]

Is it true that it can eavesdrop the entire galaxy?, like it has the ability to scan the whole galaxy?

 

[Chronos]

Depends mostly on signal intensity. It would pick up a 1 MW signal out to about 1000 light years.

 

[Gold Barz]

So...I don't know anything about this stuff, is that "powerful"?

 

[Phobos]

It's a very powerful radio telescope*...which makes it great for SETI's purposes (and many other astronomy purposes)...but like any other telescope it's resolution decreases with distance.

* The most powerful currently available? Someone remind me.

 

[Danger]

So...I don't know anything about this stuff, is that "powerful"?

Extremely. Keep in mind that several factors determine this. One is the size of the antenna array, another is the amplification and filtering system, and another is the processing power available for presenting the data in a useable format. An antenna the size of the Earth would be useless if you couldn't extract information from it, and the most powerful amplifier on the planet wouldn't do much good hooked up to a Bell ExpressVu satellite dish.

 

[turbo]

It's a very powerful radio telescope*...which makes it great for SETI's purposes (and many other astronomy purposes)...but like any other telescope it's resolution decreases with distance.

* The most powerful currently available? Someone remind me.

The power of a telescope is usually defined as a function of its resolving power. With very clean amplification, accurate data-handling and a long baseline, small radio telescopes can be combined to trump Aricibo. As a single telescope, Aricebo is a monster, but it cannot probe shorter wavelengths with the resolution of a long-baseline collaboration pair.

http://www.brightsurf.com/EDU_news_093002_b.html

 

[Gold Barz]

So the arecibo is not really a unique radio telescope with what it could do? since a lot of smaller telescopes together could do better.

 

[Danger]

So the arecibo is not really a unique radio telescope with what it could do?

It's unique in doing it all from one location. Multiple receiving dishes spread over a very wide area act like one huge one for radio detection. You just have to keep the data synchronized to give a coherent picture.

 

[Chronos]

Arecibo, while sensitive, is not well suited for SETI purposes - it's not 'steerable'. This is, IMO, what you really need to do a bang up job:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/greenbank_observatory_000826.html

 

[Danger]

This is, IMO, what you really need to do a bang up job:
http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/astronomy/greenbank_observatory_000826.html

In a way, Aricibo is 'steerable' in that it sweeps the sky at Earth's rotation rate. This thing that you linked to is pretty impressive, I must say, although I only scanned the first page of the site (my time is very limited, but I'll check it out in more depth later).