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Alien search telescope shut down

In some sad news, it seems as though funding for the Allen Telescope Array has been cut, and the observatory has had to shut down the array. From BBC News:

The Allen Telescope Array (ATA) in California has been mothballed, according to the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (Seti) Institute.

Funding for the observatory, which hosts the ATA, has been cut to one-tenth its former level.

The Seti Institute was established in 1984 to look for life beyond Earth.

The telescopes, at the Hat Creek Radio Observatory north of San Francisco, California, have a number of science goals, including searching for radio signals from intelligent life in the Universe.

“Effective this week, the ATA has been placed in hibernation due to funding shortfalls for operations of the Hat Creek Radio Observatory where the ATA is located,” Tom Pierson, chief executive of the Seti Institute, said in a statement.

It’s unfortunate that funding is being cut to so many scientific endeavors lately. The recession sucks, but it seems as though a lot of good research is being slowed or halted because the money just isn’t there. I just wish the government would stop bailing out Wall Street executives and pump more money back into the arts and sciences. I guess we civilians will keep having to search for UFOs on our own.