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The Billion-Dollar Telescope

Posted by michael on from the i-spy-with-my-little-eye dept.

dcmeserve writes "As in all science, astronomers are ever searching for better technology to aid in their task. But when it comes to telescopes, nothing beats sheer bulk of light-gathering capability. This article gives a brief overview of the top contenders for the next leap forward, including a 100-meter behemoth that is expected to run $1 billion."

3 of 326 comments (clear)

  1. speed of light by sparklingfruit · · Score: 0, Troll

    Light emanating from earth really does'nt die out, right? So if it was possible for us to either travel faster than light or warp space time into a circle and then get a powerful enough telescope, then we should be able to see events from the past, right?

    That is travel faster than light, to a long distance, turn around and then look at earth with a powerful telescope, we should be able to see kennedy getting shot? wouldnt we? Or maybe bend spacetime so that all the light which left earth years ago comes back to earth ?

  2. Interesting by sparklingfruit · · Score: 0, Troll

    It is extremely good to see this sort of fierce competition driving astronomy.

    As open source developers, we all know the power of competition, how advances on both sides of the OS wars have driven the other to catch up or improve. If this sort of competition drives the development of telescopes then we can expect a lot of advances in science and space over the next few years

    This is extremely exciting news. Maybe in years to come we will be able to see the headlines on alien newspapers.

  3. It's metre, not meter by swordgeek · · Score: 0, Troll

    A meter is a device. A metre is a unit of measure. This SHOULDN'T be difficult stuff.

    --

    "People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban