Northern Bright Lights

Gn0M3KInG writes "CBC Canada is reporting that the largest Canadian science project in 30 years, a $174 million synchrotron is about to be fired up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan (Canada - duh!). This little device is capable of generating light millions of times brighter than the sun, and is the first of it's kind in North America. Looks like this could lead to some VERY cool research developments like creating better microchips, and watching living cells react to drugs (amongst others)."

Comments

Very cool.

[Anonymous Coward]

As noted you can nifty things with these like make movies of crystal structures deforming.

And FWIW it amounts to an x-ray laser.

Clips are already linked from the story page

[blacklite001]

You could also just click on the story link, and look to the right of the story, where there is a 1:53 video in both Quicktime and RealVideo formats, and a 2:22 RealAudio clip. There's also the synchrotron website linked on the right side.

Curious...

[Spytap]

What is the sound of a million blinded Canadians blinking?

Warning

[craXORjack]

Do not look into synchrotron with remaining eye.

Thrust

[Profane MuthaFucka]

So what is the thrust of a light source millions of times brighter than the sun? Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

Re:Thrust

[CommanderData]

Are you thinking what I'm thinking?

I don't know, but if it includes an irrational particle accelerator, a liquid lunch and a pair of rubber bands you can count me out!

Re:Thrust

[Fortran IV]

If you're thinking "solar sail" (synchrotron sail?), then think of this: A light source 10 million times brighter than the Sun would still have to be about 440 km in diameter to have the same light output as the Sun. I doubt Canada is yet ready to build such a large installation.

If on the other hand you're thinking of an Angel's Pencil laser drive: IANA physicist, and I'm frankly over my head with this.

Synchrotron list

[Mark of THE CITY]

Here's a page of links to various synchrotrons around the world:

http://www-als.lbl.gov/als/synchrotron_sources.h tm l

Runs on Red Hat Linux

[Freshly Exhumed]

Take a look at the Real or Quicktime videos at double size starting at about the 56 second mark and you'll see that key control computers run Red Hat Linux.

Re:Runs on Red Hat Linux

[WasteOfAmmo]

Yes, we run Red Hat Linux on many of the servers both over at the CLS and here on the rest of campus. Our Computer Science dept. also runs Mandrake Linux in many of the undergrad labs.

We currently license Mandrake so that all students on campus may download the distros from us. We also license MSDN for our Computer Science students.

Incidently, CLS/UofS also runs Win2k3, various distros of Linux, Solaris, etc., etc. It is not so much of a case of OS religious wars as it is of using the right tool for the right job. The "right tool" is defined by the requirments of the project (which of course includes licensing costs as well as tech req.).

bottom line: there is nothing wonderful and new to see here. These are not OS war propaganda materials your looking for. Just real IT people solving real IT problems using all available tools. Please move on.

Merlin.