E-Merlin "Super-Telescope" Switched On 41
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.
Re:lot-o-data (Score:5, 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.
Re:shocking (Score:4, Informative)
To be fair it did take four years [bbc.co.uk] to connect those seven telescopes at a cost of £8.1 million [scitech.ac.uk]. 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.
Re:So... (Score:3, Informative)
But he didn't say "inflatable"... ^^
Re:shocking (Score:3, Informative)
Unfortunately, you still get 30GB bitcap.
Re:lot-o-data (Score:1, Informative)
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.
Brian May never touched radio astronomy; he did his PhD research on Zodiacal light at Imperial College and was offered a postdoc position at Jodrell Bank, but other pursuits diverted him.