The ALFALFA research project is located at the Arecibo Observatory and started on February 4th 2005.
ALFA is the abbreviation of Arecibo L-Band Feed Array.
[3][4] The speed of the ALFA permits it to survey large areas of the sky quickly, while the telescope provides unequalled sensitivity.
With the seven feeds it is also possible to detect structures which are too big to be seen with radio interferometers or single-pixel detectors.
The telescope is not directed at preselected targets, but at one location for one night, allowing the sky to pass.