YOLA 07B: Stars in their Eyes - p2

Verb to increase the strength of an electric signal
amplified
The dish will direct the radio waves down into the heart of the receiver, where signals from deep space can be amplified, recorded and analysed. To compensate for the rotation of the Earth, it will need to be fully steerable.
Verb to move or turn in a circle
rotating
To vary the angle of the dish, it will be mounted on an elevation structure, beneath which will be a rotating structure. This will move smoothly around on the steel base, the cylindrical platform for the receiver.
Adjective very difficult to do or deal with
daunting
The construction of 64 such telescopes on a vast, adjustable grid of tracks covering 40 square km is daunting. The combined collecting surface of the receivers will measure 6.000 square metres, the size of a football pitch.
Adjective very large
mammoth
Putting together such a mammoth piece of kit, with its ?250 million price tag, in the thin air and red dust of the central Chilean Andes, seems outrageously ambitious.
Adjective not clearly seen
faint
But why bother? Given that the night sky is full of bright galaxies, why do astronomers build telescopes manufactured to a billionth of a metre accuracy, just to see faint ones? The answer is about looking back in time.
Adjective having limits
finite
Astronomer David Field of the University of Aarhus says, "The fainter the galaxy, the more distant it is. And given that light travels at a finite speed, faint galaxies are also the oldest."
Adjective used to describe something that can change easily or that changes often
fluid
"We want to know how a hot, fluid universe turned into one with galaxies and stars and planets and continents and. eventually, people," says UK astronomer Dr Paul Murdin.
Verb to change or develop slowly often into a better, more complex, or more advanced state
evolved
Field continues, "In other words, telescopes are time machines. They have shown us what the universe was like ten billion years ago, how it evolved during its childhood."
Noun an early stage of development
infancy
Scientists are now satisfied they know about the universe's birth, and about its childhood. But they still need to learn about its early infancy thirteen billion years ago.