570 Megapixel Camera to Capture Dark Energy

http://media.bestofmicro.com/dark-en...5-236201-1.jpg

570 Megapixel Camera to Capture Dark Energy
January 14, 2010

" A 570 megapixel camera will launch next year to prove the existence of Dark Energy.

Here's a small disclaimer: the 570 megapixel camera currently under construction isn't exactly small, and it won't end up on Walmart shelves anytime soon. Rather than replace the aging Hubble telescope due to hit retirement in 2014 (the James Webb Space Telescope will actually have seat), this $35 million dollar camera will focus its 74 CCD sensors on dark energy.

Called the Dark Energy Camera, this rig isn't looking for the existence of the dark side of the Force, but rather the invisible substance that supposedly makes up 70-percent of the universe. The camera is currently under construction at Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois under the supervision of Brenna Flaughter.

The idea of this camera is to peer back into time when the universe was only a few billion years old by pointing its mammoth lenses up into the Southern Hemisphere. Flaughter and her team of scientists want to understand how the dark energy diminished the influence gravity had over galaxies, thus allowing the expansion of the universe to accelerate.

The scientists are betting that the 570 megapixel monster will help solve the riddle by mapping the light from over 300 million galaxies and supernovas. The Dark Energy Survey and the digital camera is expected to go live in 2011, and could even challenge Einstein's general theory of relativity. "It’s throwing the tools of the digital age onto the old question of where we are," said Craig Hogan, the director of the Center for Particle Astrophysics at Fermilab.

The images produced by the Dark Energy Camera should make one heck of a desktop wallpaper. "

:source: Source: http://www.tomsguide.com/us/Digital-...news-5568.html:view: Homepage: http://www.tomsguide.com

Pointless?

There's heaps of Graphic designers who can create a 1080p wallpaper of space.

Er... did you read the entire article? It's supposed to do a lot more than just create wallpapers (which was just a joke).

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Originally Posted by iLOVENZB

Pointless?

There's heaps of Graphic designers who can create a 1080p wallpaper of space.

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:frusty::frusty::frusty:

not looking for the force? then whats the point?!

although dark energy camera does sounds cooler than hubble...

@Rart of coarse I did, something about the old camera being obsolete and this camera will capture 'dark energy'.

" dark energy is a hypothetical form of energy that permeates all of space and tends to increase the rate of expansion of the universe. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_energy

Only a fool would actually listen to my opinion in the news section :P

I just think they should use the camera to create some "ultra extreme HD pr0n" :P

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Originally Posted by aktiv8

I just think they should use the camera to create some "ultra extreme HD pr0n" :P

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And that is exactly why you arent in control of it.

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Originally Posted by xuxoxux

Quote:

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Originally Posted by aktiv8

I just think they should use the camera to create some "ultra extreme HD pr0n" :P

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And that is exactly why you arent in control of it.

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Yep exactly why they turned me down for the job... I'll just stay in my current lab, it's more fun

"are we as a people ready to know as much as we will be able to learn so very soon?"

Interesting question posed on the site.....

The real question what is the max resolution of this bad boy?

Bleh, news like this pop up every now and then. This will turn out to be another big fat failure. In reality, no general theory of relativity will be challenged, no dark energy will be found and shit just hits the fan like it did with the multi-billion dollar LHC.

WoW this is huge news i knew that tech is unlimited and it would go to areas never been found before