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Bill Gates and Microsoft Fund Telescope

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the he's-still-a-nerd-people dept.

coondoggie writes "Bill Gates and the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences this week donated $30 million to an ambitious telescope that researchers say will be able to survey the entire sky every three nights — something never done before. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) Project got $20 million from the Charles Simonyi Fund for Arts and Sciences and $10 million from Microsoft founder and chairman Bill Gates. Expected to see its "first light" in 2014, the 8.4-meter LSST will survey the entire visible sky deeply in multiple colors every week with its 3 billion-pixel digital camera, probing the mysteries of dark matter and dark energy and opening a movie-like window on objects that change or move. With the telescope scientists will be able to quickly find Earth-threatening asteroids and exploding stars called supernovas and will be able to map out 100 billion galaxies, according to researchers."

14 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. ah! by Coraon · · Score: 4, Funny

    but does it run Linux?

    --
    -Ours is the wisdom of Solomon, the magic of Merlyn, the fall of Icaris.
  2. Gates Will Discover The Planet Ballmer by Skeetskeetskeet · · Score: 0, Funny

    Where its inhabitants greet the rising of its four suns by gathering en masse and screaming "DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS DEVELOPERS!!"

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    Yeah, my karma sucks....but so do the mods.
  3. I bet... by aurb · · Score: 4, Funny

    ...they are going to use it to search for potential markets for Microsofts` products...

  4. We all know... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

    It wont work until it gets a new service pack
      it will only look in the direction it chooses too
      Before looking though it, you will have to click ten boxes of "are you sure you want to look in that direction" are you sure you want to see that star", are you sure you want to see that spacecraft heading for earth.." and so forth.

  5. It'd scan the sky faster... by GradiusCVK · · Score: 2, Funny

    ...if it didn't take so long to copy the images it takes onto external storage.

  6. someone has to say it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Blue Sky Of Death

  7. but if it's a VR simulation... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    why don't we just hack in and download the map directly? :P

  8. They're going to use it to watch . . . by Rolgar · · Score: 3, Funny

    The winner of the Google Lander program land on the moon.

  9. It looks like you're trying... by gimpeh · · Score: 5, Funny
    ...to scan the sky!

    Do you want to
    • create a document template?
    • send an email to a friend?
    • send the invasion fleet to a new planet?

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    Script kiddies ate my sig.
  10. Maybe it will discover the mysteries of by Anderlan · · Score: 1, Funny

    the Blue Star of Death!

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    KLAATU, BORADA, NIh*ahem*
  11. Re:Earth-Killer by headkase · · Score: 2, Funny

    Depends if the OS of the nuke-intercept-missile crashes along the way to said asteroid...

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    Shh.
  12. With all apologies to Roger Waters... by LynnwoodRooster · · Score: 2, Funny

    There is no dark matter really. Matter of fact it's all dark.

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    Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
  13. My God! by Ranger · · Score: 2, Funny

    It's full of blue.

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    "You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
  14. Approve or Deny ? by protobion · · Score: 2, Funny

    Windows needs your permission to look at dark matter.
    Allow or Cancel ?
    If you do not trust this dark matter, do not run this operation. Dark Matter can potentially harm your computer.

    --
    Essentia non sunt multiplicanda praeter necessitatem.