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A Telescope as Big as the Earth

Roland Piquepaille writes "A week ago, seven telescopes around the world were linked together to watch a distant galaxy called 3C273 in real time and create a single world telescope. The data from these telescopes, which are located in Australia, China and Europe, was streamed around the world at a rate of 256 Mb per second. One of the Australian researchers involved in the project said that it was the first time that astronomers have been able to instantaneously connect telescopes half a world apart. He added that 'the diameter of the Earth is 12,750 km and the two most widely separated telescopes in our experiment were 12,304 km apart.'"

6 of 172 comments (clear)

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

    ...all data from the Shanghai telescope was filtered and replaced with promotional material for the Peoples Republic of China. Apparently the galaxy bears a striking resemblance to Chairman Mao.

  2. All at once by Blitz22 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I for one, welcome our giant eyed, galactic..... I soviet Russia, the world telescopes .... Scientist can finally peer deep into goat..... be gentle.

    --
    If I went around claiming I was an emperor...they'd put me away!
  3. Re:Cool by Gloy · · Score: 5, Informative

    You haven't tried Google Sky, then?

  4. Re:OK by evanbd · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's a radio telescope; the atmosphere is almost irrelevant. This gives a very large effective size for diffraction purposes, meaning the resulting images can be much more finely resolved.

  5. A source of hope by athloi · · Score: 5, Insightful

    We have problems on earth, but most of them will never be solved. Poverty will always exist. Stupidity will always exist. So will criminality, alcoholism, drug addiction, and failure. We can either spend our time obsessing over the negative, or we can choose to explore space and find a new future. I'm glad that we continue to probe space, to consider sending up ships, and most all, that we keep space exploration alive in our minds as a source of hope.

  6. Wrong it is not 4.22 years. by arthurpaliden · · Score: 5, Funny

    Actually light from the closest know star takes about 8 minutes to get to the earth.