Alien hunting, Windows through the ages and Christmas gifts

With Christmas just around the corner, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the hordes of people watching the horizon for signs of an otherworldly being are in fact watching for the arrival of Santa.

Not so – it's aliens. The Hat Creek Radio Observatory, in Northern California, is home to the Allen Telescope Array. The ATA, as it's called, is a collection of radio antennas, that together make up the world's first telescope dedicated to the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence project.

See the array in action in the full photo story here.

Photo credit: Daniel Terdiman/CNET News