Slashdot Mirror
SALT Telescope First Light
carnun writes "On the 1st of September, 5 years after ground breaking, the SALT Telescope released their first light images to the public. Yesterday one of these images was even displayed on NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day website. The Southern African Large Telescope, built in South Africa, is the largest telescope in the Southern Hemisphere and (depending on how you define it) the equal largest telescope in the world, but built at a budget of only $30 million, about a tenth cheaper than its nearest competitor. The official opening of the telescope is scheduled for the 10th of November, but scientific observations are already a regular occurence. (Disclaimer: I'm the software engineer responsible for the main telescope server.)" Perhaps as an added bonus carnun could even be persuaded to participate heavily in the discussion. Either way, sounds like a cool project to be a part of.
[ben@mail.nerdsystems.com]#traceroute www.salt.ac.za
traceroute to www.salt.ac.za (192.96.109.50), 30 hops max, 38 byte packets
1 192.168.1.1 (192.168.1.1) 0.698 ms 0.887 ms 0.665 ms
2 10.52.128.1 (10.52.128.1) 10.187 ms 9.563 ms 7.850 ms
3 pos5-0.hstntxgra-rtr2.houston.rr.com (24.28.97.213) 9.569 ms 9.916 ms 7.559 ms
4 srp8-0.hstntxtid-rtr2.houston.rr.com (24.28.101.241) 8.333 ms 8.994 ms 8.143 ms
5 pos0-0.hstntxtid-rtr1.texas.rr.com (24.93.34.98) 9.892 ms 8.441 ms 10.023 ms
6 son0-0-3.dllatxl3-rtr1.texas.rr.com (24.93.33.57) 21.196 ms 27.393 ms 32.544 ms
7 te-2-1.car1.Dallas1.Level3.net (4.71.12.17) 19.828 ms 20.283 ms 21.334 ms
8 ae-1-54.bbr2.Dallas1.Level3.net (4.68.122.97) 20.310 ms 20.147 ms 20.256 ms
9 as-1-0.bbr1.Washington1.Level3.net (4.68.128.201) 51.724 ms 144.726 ms 53.050 ms
10 ae-13-51.car3.Washington1.Level3.net (4.68.121.16) 52.553 ms 53.559 ms 4.68.121.144 (4.68.121.144) 53.905 ms
11 telia-level3-ge.Washington1.Level3.net (4.68.127.242) 53.208 ms 52.291 ms 53.896 ms
12 nyk-bb2-pos0-3-0.telia.net (213.248.80.137) 60.166 ms 58.524 ms 58.151 ms
13 nyk-i3-geth2-0.telia.net (213.248.82.150) 57.985 ms 57.630 ms 60.568 ms
14 telekomsa-01531-nyk-i3.c.telia.net (213.248.82.238) 57.721 ms 59.077 ms 60.514 ms
15 wblv-ip-lir-1-pos-6-3.telkom-ipnet.co.za (196.43.9.105) 282.016 ms 283.310 ms 281.114 ms
16 tenet-gen2-int-gw.telkom-ipnet.co.za (196.25.251.150) 285.889 ms 281.912 ms 284.889 ms
17 saao-ct-int-ipnet.uni.net.za (155.232.200.154) 472.798 ms * 638.632 ms
18 * unknown.uni.net.za (155.232.210.5) 682.421 ms 494.832 ms
19 saao-ct-bb-ipnet.uni.net.za (155.232.210.74) 484.095 ms 615.513 ms 698.510 ms
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[ben@mail.nerdsystems.com]#
Wow, pretty high latency... looks like this is going over a satellite connection...
I wonder what their pipe is... obviously nowhere near good enough... as here we are bringing them to a crawl in a hurry... I sure hope this is a Linux box running things, as a Windows box is sure to crater as a result of this...
I've had my site slashdotted before, and it never slowed down to this slow... guess that is what happens when you are going over a satellite link?
Anyone know the speed of this link? Just curious...
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Does this also help with my horoscope?
My wife's sketchblog Blob[p]: Gastrono-me
Stuff that, how long until we see hott girls riding dinosaurs in space with it? This is of vital importance; we can't allow China to get there first!
"I Know You Are But What Am I?"
As for the first link, whatever you may have thought, and whatever the moderators may have thought, such is the way things go. I have since closed my PayPal accounts as a result. It seems that there was no problem with the actual account, and that I was very lucky.
The second one just states the obvious. Mac computers have had a very limited role in the "corporate desktop". I ought to have put quotes around that in my original post, I can't think of why I didn't. Most computer systems that sit on people's desks at their office are Windows terminals. Unless, as I mentioned in the post, you belong to certain very specific industries such as media creation (design houses, advertising houses, music or movie production, etc) or academia, you will be hard pressed to find a Macintosh computer anywhere. Maybe your experience is different and you live in a world where Apple computers are so prevalent that trying to walk without tripping over one is a burden. I don't know. I certainly don't live in that world.
I wouldn't be surprised if you're one of the Adequacy-era trolls, still looking for a home.
Well, you've got me at a disadvantage, then. I haven't got the slightest idea what you are talking about.
I don't comment here for your edification. You're free to ignore my posts to your heart's content.
Jesus saved me from my past. He can save you as well.
Either way, I'm impressed!
J.
You're only jealous cos the little penguins are talking to me.