And its resolving power will help with the search for extrasolar planets.

ECONOMIST: The Square Kilometre Array

The latest project to involve them, called Planet Hunters, allows amateurs to search for extrasolar planets those that orbit stars other than the sun.

ECONOMIST: Amateur astronomers join the ranks of the planet hunters

But existing plans to photograph extrasolar planets in this way involve orbiting arrays of reflecting telescopes all pointing in exactly the same direction.

ECONOMIST: The search for alien life

Taken together, the observational and modeling results imply that many extrasolar systems harbor distantly orbiting worlds, though such planets are tough for astronomers to detect at the moment, researchers said.

MSN: Alien planets face danger from double-star systems