1,400 Megapixel Pan-STARRS Telescope Comes Online 54
ElectricSteve writes "Astronomers in Hawaii have announced they've successfully managed to boot up the Pan-STARRS (Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System) telescope. Working from dusk to dawn every night, Pan-STARRS is able to map one-sixth of the sky each month, allowing astronomers to track all moving objects, calculate their orbits, and identify any potential threats to Earth. There are four Pan-STARRS cameras in total, each capable of capturing around 1.4 billion pixels over a sensor measuring 40 centimeters square. The focal plane of each camera contains an almost complete 64x64 array of CCD devices, each containing approximately 600x600 pixels, for a total resolution of 1.4 gigapixels."
That's a lot of pixels (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:That's a lot of pixels (Score:1, Insightful)
That's where the automation comes in.
Looking in the wrong direction? (Score:5, Insightful)
Somehow, I think there are more threats to Earth down here than up there..
Re:Looking in the wrong direction? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:That's a lot of pixels (Score:2, Insightful)
it's kind of sad, but in today's big cities you can't see stars. Light pollution, smog, whatever.
personally, at some point I am going to miss them enough to go to a website where they want me to watch starry skies.