page_title: Allen Telescope Array
hierarchical_section_title: Allen Telescope Array
caption_attribution_description: English: Closeup front view of one antenna of the Allan Telescope Array, a radio telescope for combined radio astronomy and SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) research being built by the University of California at Berkeley, outside San Francisco. The first phase, consisting of 42 6 meter dish antennas like the one shown here, was completed in 2007. Eventually it will have 350 antennas. This type of antenna is called an offset Gregorian design. The incoming radio waves are reflected by the large parabolic dish onto a secondary concave parabolic reflector in front of the dish, and then into a feed horn. A metal shroud can be seen along the bottom of the secondary reflector which shields the antenna from ground noise. It covers the frequency range from 0.5 to 11.2 GHz.
context_page_description: The Allen Telescope Array, formerly known as the One Hectare Telescope, is a radio telescope array dedicated to astronomical observations and a simultaneous search for extraterrestrial intelligence. The array is situated at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory in Shasta County, 290 miles northeast of San Francisco, California.
  The project was originally developed as a joint effort between the SETI Institute and the Radio Astronomy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, with funds obtained from an initial US$11.5 million donation by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. The first phase of construction was completed and the ATA finally became operational on 11 October 2007 with 42 antennas, after Paul Allen had pledged an additional $13.5 million to support the construction of the first and second phases.
  Although overall Allen has contributed more than $30 million to the project, it has not succeeded in building the 350 6.1 m dishes originally conceived, and the project suffered an operational hiatus due to funding shortfalls between April and August 2011, after which observations resumed. Subsequently, UC Berkeley exited the project, completing divestment in April 2012.
context_section_description: The Allen Telescope Array (ATA), formerly known as the One Hectare Telescope (1hT), is a radio telescope array dedicated to astronomical observations and a simultaneous search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). The array is situated at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory in Shasta County, 290 miles (470 km) northeast of San Francisco, California.
  The project was originally developed as a joint effort between the SETI Institute and the Radio Astronomy Laboratory (RAL) at the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), with funds obtained from an initial US$11.5 million donation by the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation.  The first phase of construction was completed and the ATA finally became operational on 11 October 2007 with 42 antennas (ATA-42), after Paul Allen (co-founder of Microsoft) had pledged an additional $13.5 million to support the construction of the first and second phases.
  Although overall Allen has contributed more than $30 million to the project, it has not succeeded in building the 350 6.1 m (20 ft) dishes originally conceived, and the project suffered an operational hiatus due to funding shortfalls between April and August 2011, after which observations resumed. Subsequently, UC Berkeley exited the project, completing divestment in April 2012. The facility is now managed by SRI International (formerly Stanford Research Institute), an independent, nonprofit research institute. As of 2016, the SETI Institute performs observations  with the ATA between the hours of 6 pm and 6 am daily.
  In August 2014, the installation was threatened by a forest fire in the area and was briefly forced to shut down, but ultimately emerged largely unscathed.
caption: The Allen Telescope Array (ATA-42), October 11, 2007.
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