Poland plans large radio telescope

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GDANSK, Poland, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- A consortium of nine Polish universities and research units has announced it will build Europe's largest radio telescope in northern Poland.

With a diameter of almost 400 feet, the telescope to be built near Tuchola will be the third-largest of its kind in the world, Polish news agency IAR reported Wednesday.

The telescope, estimated to cost about $125 million, will be the centerpiece of a planned National Center for Radio Astronomy and Space Science, to be coordinated by the University of Gdansk.

The telescope project itself will be led by the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, the consortium announced Tuesday at its first meeting in Gdansk.

Poland currently operates a 100-foot radio telescope in Torun.

The world's largest single-dish radio telescope is the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico, with a 1,001-foot dish.

The largest single-dish radio telescope in Europe currently is the 330-foot diameter antenna in Effelsberg, Germany,