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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."

11 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. I bet... by aurb · · Score: 4, Funny

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

  3. 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.

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

    Blue Sky Of Death

  5. 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

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

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

  7. 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?

    --
    Script kiddies ate my sig.
  8. Re:Earth-Killer by headkase · · Score: 2, Funny

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

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

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

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

    It's full of blue.

    --
    "You'll get nothing, and you'll like it!"
  11. 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.