September 20, 2015

An earlier iteration of Team Mopra in front of the Mopra radio telescope (Photo courtesy team Mopra. All rights reserved)

The Mopra telescope, with its 22 meters in diameter and the suite of specialized instruments, is the only one able to quickly map large areas of the sky. The name comes from a geological formation in the vicinity, in the area near Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia. Its closure was decided after severe budget cuts by the Australian federal government but a fundraiser on Kickstarter could save it.