The Australian outback - home to such Aussie icons as the kangaroo, emu and dingo - and now this: the world's fastest radio telescope.<br/> <br />The Austalia Square Kilometer Array Pathfinder or ASKAP, with 36 antennas, each 40 feet across, began operating on Friday.<br/> <br />The 155 million US dollar dollar telescope uses new radio cameras to scan the sky much more rapidly than existing telescopes.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE)(English) MEGAN CLARK, CSIRO CHIEF EXECUTIVE SAYING:<br/> <br />" We can see large parts of the sky, we can start to really scan and if you like have a panorama of the Universe in a way that we've never had before."<br/> <br />To understand just how fast it is, an image of Centauraus A, our closest galaxy with a black hole, would previously have required 400 images, two years of observation and 10,000 hours of computer time.<br/> <br />ASKAP will take just two images and five minutes of observation and computer time.<br/> <br />The only problem is the amount of data the telescope will generate, as Australia's Science Minister Chris Evans explained at the opening ceremony.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE)(English) SCIENCE MINISTER, CHRIS EVANS SAYING:<br/> <br />" We are going to have to design and build a super computer way beyond the super computers we have now, way beyond that capability to deal with the amount of data."<br/> <br />ASKAP is the first building block in the world's largest telescope - the Square Kilometer Array or SKA which will be based in both Australia and South Africa.<br/> <br />Construction's due to begin in 2016 when Australia will add another 60 antennas to its current 36.
