'It will change how we understand the universe': World's most powerful telescope to be built in 2016

• It will gather so much data that a super-computer equivalent to one billion PCs will be needed to process it
• Will cover 1,900 square miles
• Project to meet in early April to discuss location
• Will be in South Africa or Australia
• Telescope will start building in 2016

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

The directors of the project are to meet in Amsterdam on 3 April to discuss the location of the huge telescope, scattered across 1,900 square miles of Earth's surface. It will start building in 2016.

'It will have a deep impact on the way we perceive our place in the universe and how we understand its history and its future,' says Michiel van Haarlem, interim director general of the SKA project.
'We know we are going to discover things.'

Numbers game: This artist's impression shows the SKA's dishes, which will scan space for electromagnetic radiation - and hopefully reveal the universe's secrets

Read More: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2120680/Square-Kilometre-Array-Worlds-powerful-telescope-SKA-built-2016.html