"We don't have a world-class radio telescope here at BYU," Jeffs said, "but we have some smaller systems that we use to vet new techniques, new methods. . . . When they work here, the plan is to take them to Green Bank or the VLA (in New Mexico) and see if we can apply them and get them to work there."

The professors began the project after an amateur astronomy magazine published a story about an NRAO group that had built an interference filtering device.

"We thought, 'We're electrical engineers. That's the kind of thing we do,' " Warnick said. "So we started building antennas on our building out here."

The Very Small Array also creates unique educational opportunities for BYU students, Jeffs said. The array of antennas was constructed by engineering graduate students, under the supervision of the two professors, and grad students continue to work on the project.

BYU's astronomy department also has been invited to use the antennas, he said.

"This is very much an educational opportunity," Jeffs said.

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