'It will revolutionise our understanding of the universe': Most powerful telescope ever built will answer the big questions about the cosmos

It will gather so much data that a super-computer equivalent to one billion PCs will be needed to process it

Fundamental unanswered questions about our universe will finally get answered – thanks to a £1.3bn telescope called the Square Kilometre Array (SKA).

It will scoop up so much information about the cosmos that a supercomputer equivalent in power to a staggering one billion PCs will be needed to process it all.

The SKA will consist of thousands of dishes across 1,900 miles, with a total surface area of one square kilometre, that will provide so much data that one astronomer has declared it will completely change our view of the universe.

Sensitive: The SKA's dishes will be able to detect an airport radar on a planet 50 light years away

Dr Ian Griffin, from the UK Association of Science and Discovery Centres, told MailOnline: ‘The SKA project will provide astronomers with a fantastic new tool which may well revolutionise our understanding of the universe.

‘With its huge area the telescope will show incredibly fine detail in galaxies, help test the theory of relativity by studying exciting and mysterious objects like black holes  and allow astronomers to learn more about the early history of the universe.'

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2037677/It-revolutionise-understanding-universe-Most-powerful-telescope-built-answer-big-questions-cosmos.html