Seeing stars, finding nukes: Radio telescopes can spot clandestine nuclear tests

File image: Very Large Array (VLA).

In the search for rogue nukes, researchers have discovered an unlikely tool: astronomical radio telescopes. Ohio State University researchers previously demonstrated another unlikely tool, when they showed that South Korean GPS stations detected telltale atmospheric disturbances from North Korea's 2009 nuclear test.

Both techniques were born out of the discovery that underground nuclear explosions leave their mark-on the outer reaches of Earth's atmosphere.

Now, working with astronomers at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL), they have analyzed historical data from the Very Large Array (VLA), a constellation of 27 radio telescopes near Socorro, New Mexico-and discovered that the VLA recorded a very similar pattern of disturbances during the last two American underground nuclear tests, which took place in Nevada in 1992.

http://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Seeing_stars_finding_nukes_Radio_telescopes_can_spot_clandestine_nuclear_tests_999.html