AlQa'dah 19, 1433, Oct 5, 2012, SPA -- Australia switched on its biggest radio telescope Friday, preparing the way for the mammoth Square Kilometre Array that will be shared with South Africa and New Zealand, dpa reported. The 36 12-metre dishes that began operating at Murchison, 700 kilometres north of Perth, cost 140 million Australian dollars (144million US dollars) to build and are a stepping stone to the 2-billion-US-dollar international project. The 36 dishes are linked into what is called the Australian Square Kilometre Array Pathfinder (ASKAP). "It's been several long years of design and construction but ASKAP is open for business," Megan Clark, the head of the government's Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, said in a statement. "Researchers from around the world are already lining up to use the facility with 10 ASKAP science survey teams, totaling more than700 astronomers, ready and waiting. "
