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E-Merlin "Super-Telescope" Switched On

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the ip-over-avian-carrier-would-have-been-better dept.

Smivs writes to tell us that one of the world's most powerful telescope arrays has been switched on with great success. Seven radio telescopes in the UK have been linked with optical fiber, replacing the older microwave tech that connected them previously. One researcher compared the move to a broadband upgrade from dial-up. Research teams will now be able to do in one day what previously took them three years.

16 of 41 comments (clear)

  1. shocking by sgt+scrub · · Score: 3, Funny

    The UK can link telescopes together with fiber but my ISP, billion dollar company, cant get me fios 5 miles south of downtown Dallas. Sigh.

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    1. Re:shocking by Hmmm2000 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Simple solution, put a telescope in your back yard, and E-Merlin will hook you up with fiber asap!

    2. Re:shocking by camperdave · · Score: 3, Funny

      I'm sure if you cough up 80 million pounds (116 million US$) like these guys did, that there would be plenty of ISPs willing to run FIOS to your home.

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    3. Re:shocking by LighterShadeOfBlack · · Score: 3, Informative

      To be fair it did take four years to connect those seven telescopes at a cost of £8.1 million. Granted those figures don't really relate to laying fibre for domestic internet but needless to say it isn't a quick or a cheap endeavour.

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    4. Re:shocking by Lord+Bitman · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yeah, when the little guys like the UK are out-pacing billion-dollar companies, what is the world coming to?

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    5. Re:shocking by Mannerism · · Score: 2, Informative

      Unfortunately, you still get 30GB bitcap.

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  2. lot-o-data by dnormant · · Score: 3, Insightful

    TFA doesn't mention it but I would assume they have upgraded their storage and processing power to accommodate the additional data.

    1. Re:lot-o-data by robkill · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Given the age of the older microwave links, plus the fact they were doing the processing, but were bandwidth-limited, it's probable that they've had the storage and processing power for a while, but the bandwidth infrastructure is now just catching up.

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    2. Re:lot-o-data by jd · · Score: 4, Informative

      The aliens supply that.

      Seriously, that's a good question. Jodrell Bank Radio Telescope (otherwise known as the Lovell Telescope), a key part of eMerlin, was threatened with closure due to a budget shortfall for science and research. Jodrell Bank was deemed, by British ministers, to be of relatively little significance.

      Given that, and given the problems with then getting everything done on time, upgrading their computer facilities might not have been so easy. Until the budget was fixed, they had nothing to buy equipment with. They were considering scrapping eMerlin altogether because they couldn't find the money to get the network in place, let alone process the data.

      Buying computer equipment last-minute in a panic, especially when you've shielding constraints from hell and a lot of media visibility, is not a good idea. There's absolutely no telling if they had the cash to buy enough compute power even to record the data, let alone crunch it. We will know that when it's fully online and results start coming through.

      ObTrivia: Brian May, guitarist for Queen, studied readio astronomy under Professor Lovell and may well have ended up a director for the telescope (and eMerlin) if his music hasn't, ummm, diverted his attention.

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    3. Re:lot-o-data by footnmouth · · Score: 2, Interesting

      the bloke in the office opposite me is a part of this. Trust me, they have the money and the track record to make sure it's done properly.

      and he gets to live and work in Cornwall on big science - I hate him..... :-)

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    4. Re:lot-o-data by Extremus · · Score: 2, Insightful
      This strangely reminds my of something I have read in a Tanenbaum book:

      Never Underestimate The Bandwidth of A Station Wagon Full Of Magnetic Tapes Hurtling Down The Highway

  3. So... by XPeter · · Score: 3, Funny

    Did they find my little green friends yet? ;)

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    "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has it's limits" - Albert Einstein
    1. Re:So... by chill · · Score: 4, Funny

      This is Slashdot. You expect us to believe you have friends? Okay, okay. You did say "green" and not "girl", so maybe...

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      Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
    2. Re:So... by Fluffeh · · Score: 4, Funny

      Okay, okay. You did say "green" and not "girl", so maybe...

      I believe you just clarified his "left" and his "right".

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    3. Re:So... by Hurricane78 · · Score: 2, Informative

      But he didn't say "inflatable"... ^^

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      Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  4. I'm holding out by mc1138 · · Score: 2

    For my Smell-O-Scope!

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