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When Lofar Meets Stella

Posted by timothy on from the hill-people-rejoice-aloud dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "The LOFAR (Low Frequency Array) telescope is a new IT radio-telescope which will use about 20,000 simple radio antennae when it's completed in 2008. At this time, it will cover an area with a diameter of 360 kilometers centered over the Netherlands. Its small radio antennae will detect radio wavelengths up to 30 meters, and because the ionosphere can bend some of these radio waves, the Lofar images might be somewhat blurry. So all the information captured by these antennae will be digitized and sent to a computing facility at a rate of 22 terabits/second today, and almost 50 terabits/second in 2010. This is the reason why Lofar needs Stella, an IBM supercomputer installed recently in Groningen, also in the Netherlands, to process signals from up to 13 billion light years from Earth. Stella consists of 12,000 PowerPC microprocessors and has a computing power of 27.4 teraflops. This overview contains more details and a picture about the Lofar-Stella interaction."

8 of 123 comments (clear)

  1. OOooo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Stella consists of 12,000 PowerPC microprocessors and has a computing power of 27.4 teraflops.

    I love it when slashdot talks dirty.

    1. Re:OOooo by ShaniaTwain · · Score: 3, Funny

      sent to a computing facility at a rate of 22 terabits/second today, and almost 50 terabits/second in 2010y

      "she held his throbbing baud close to hers and their pulse quickened 9600, 56k, 128.. faster,faster.. 22 terabits! Oh MY GOD! 50 terabits per second! Data erupting everywhere."

      excuse me, I'm just going to go wash up..

      --
      Starsucks
  2. Finally... by Lu+Xun · · Score: 1, Funny

    How long until someone installs Doom 3 and we finally find out what it looks like with all the features turned on?

    --
    That's not a soda... it's a caffeine delivery device!
  3. high taxes, weird food, Metric system by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Cut me a break. This won't work. What makes anyone think the aliens would want to talk to Europeans?

  4. A Telescope Named Desire by AEton · · Score: 3, Funny

    Lofar: Stella? STELLA!!!

    --
    We recently had heard in the office over one of the Yellow Machine that's made by Anthology Solutions.
  5. I am Lofar of the Dish People! by xscarecrowx · · Score: 2, Funny

    I am Lofar of the Dish People! Much have I have detected, and much have I computed, for I am Lofar of the Dish People!

  6. LOFAR of the hill people! by deejer · · Score: 2, Funny

    LOFAR: I am LOFAR of the Hill People! Much have I have seen, and much have I done, for I am LOFAR of the Hill People!

    We speak of many things! Detecting radio wavelengths! Fire! The weakness of women!

    Sorry, That was the first thing I thought of when I read LOFAR meets stella

  7. Re:I dare you to read this! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
    A girl died in some year of natural causes. A gravedigger buried her in the ground after she was dead. The gravedigger chanted "Yua arastu pidmor ahna." And it was as true then as it is today.

    (If you don't get it, sound it out phonetically.)

    --dg