Where should the Square Kilometre Array be built?

The $1.5 billion Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will be the biggest and most advanced radio telescope ever built. Which of the two competing bids do you think should win?

• Australia / New Zealand
• Southern Africa

Have your say by voting in our Facebook poll

Yesterday, the founding board of the SKA project the unveiled the process and timeline for selection of the host site for the telescope. Sites in southern Africa and Australia/New Zealand have been shortlisted to host the central core of the SKA telescope, and a final decision on the location is expected to be made in early 2012 by the SKA board of directors.

“Selection of the host site for the SKA will be made in terms of characteristics for the best science as well as the capability and cost of supporting a very large infrastructure, taking the political and working environment into account,” said Richard Schilizzi, director of SKA.

Last week’s Facebook poll was a more light-hearted affair as we celebrated Physics World‘s Invisibility Science special issue. We asked readers to choose their favourite use of invisibility as a plot device from a selection of science-fiction works. The clear winner was John McTiernan’s 1987 action thriller, Predator, which received 40% of the vote.