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Software Telescope

Posted by timothy on from the small-pieces-hooked-together dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The BBC News is running the story 'Pyramid power' probes universe which is about LOFAR's software telescope for radio astronomy. The heart of the system is a IBM Blue Gene which processes data from an array of simple pyramidal radio antennae. The array of antennae are also multitasking in the fields of geophysics and agriculture."

7 of 62 comments (clear)

  1. Pyramid Power? by TripMaster+Monkey · · Score: 2, Funny


    I hope the people over at LOFAR have considered all the ramifications of Pyramid Power... ^_^

    --
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    ~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey

  2. Re:Why can't we distribute this work? by AndroidCat · · Score: 5, Funny
    If you participate, you get free access to all the high res graphics!

    And if you help out with the potato farm project, can you get an order of fries with that?

    --
    One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  3. The real question is.... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    The real question is who designed these "pyramids"? It's obvious that our current society is not advanced enough for such a feat, so that leaves us three possibilities.

    A) A past civilization capable of such feats.
    B) A future version of our civilization with time travel.
    C) Otherworldly visitors with hyperadvanced technology.

    I fear we'll never quite understand this mystery.

    ---
    News for real nerds, stuff that actually matters.

    1. Re:The real question is.... by Ingolfke · · Score: 3, Funny

      Maybe no one designed them at all you idiot. Just because something exists and seems to have some purpose or logical structure doesn't mean it was created. I doubt they were created at all, they probably just came into existence or are the result of metal deposits that have, over time, formed into shapes that appear to be, and are suitable for us as, antennae.

    2. Re:The real question is.... by $RANDOMLUSER · · Score: 4, Funny

      I assert, without proof, that they are obviously Irreducably Complex, and therefore must have been created.
      So there.

      --
      No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism. - Winston Churchill
  4. Where's Da Plans...? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Funny

    So where is the link to build my own radio telescope and supercomputer? Or do I have to wait until the next issue of Make comes out?

  5. Might not be as useful as first thought... by xquark · · Score: 3, Funny

    "It is also possible that weather monitoring will become so localised
    and instantaneous that weather forecasting will become "now-casting".

    I'm sorry but I don't need some remote sensor device using wi-fi telling
    me that it is raining hail stones, the pain from the fractures to my
    cranium will be more than enough.

    Arash Partow
    __________________________________________ ________ ______
    Be one who knows what they don't know,
    Instead of being one who knows not what they don't know,
    Thinking they know everything about all things.
    http://www.partow.net/

    --
    Arash Partow's Philosophy: Be a person who knows what they don't know, and not a person who doesn't know.