Telescope Array Project

The Telescope Array Project is a cosmic-ray observatory in western Utah, in operation since about 2008, the effort of an international collaboration including Japan, Russia, South Korea, and Belgium. The name Telescope Array Project can mislead: the observatory is quite different from an array of typical optical telescopes; it does include three specialized telescopes for detecting flashes due to air showers in Earth atmosphere in a region of Utah desert of about 300 square miles. The three telescopes are much like those of VERITAS, each single-pixel with a very wide field of view. Across the region are also numerous scintillator-based detectors to detect the air showers' particle products. The initiative began as the merger of two existing initiatives, the High Resolution Fly's Eye (HiRes) and the Akeno Giant Air Shower Array (AGASA). It aims for the highest energy cosmic rays, e.g., 10¹⁸ to 10²⁰ eV and beyond (UHE cosmic rays/UHECRs and EE cosmic rays/EECRs). Among its projects:

• TALE, the Telescope Array Low Energy extension.
• TARA, the Telescope Array radar project.