The Deseret News recently ran an article featuring the planned expansion of the Telescope Array. The Telescope Array, which currently sits on an area of land under the control of the Bureau of Land Management, is planning on expanding to four times its current size in order to study the cosmic ray hotspot recently discovered near the Big Dipper.
The article highlights some of the new equipment that will be added to the current instruments that are already installed on the site. This new equipment includes over 500 new scintillator detectors, ten new communication towers, as well as smaller fluorescence detectors. These new instruments will allow scientists to increase the precision with which they can detect cosmic rays, helping them narrow down the search for the source of these energetic particles.
While this new expansion will greatly increase the footprint of the facility, the article notes that the actual impact to the land is minimal. Because the small surface detectors are placed so far apart, the actual ground disturbance created by the expansion will impact less than one percent of the land within the perimeter, around 21.8 acres or 0.15 percent of the land.
The Bureau of Land Management is currently accepting written comments on the proposed expansion by mail or email, as well as in person at their field office in Fillmore.
