Best of What's New 2011

Aviation & Space

Astro Space Center RadioAstron

Biggest radio telescope

Aviation & Space 8 of 10

Astro Space Center RadioAstron Courtesy Astro Space

The Russian space agency’s RadioAstron satellite, launched in July, is the final piece of the biggest radio-telescope array ever assembled. The satellite’s 33-foot carbon-fiber dish antenna is small, but it connects it to a worldwide network of terrestrial telescopes. Using a technique called very long baseline interferometry, the satellite completes a virtual dish that is 30 times the size of Earth and has a resolution 10,000 times that of Hubble. Scientists will use it to study dark matter and black holes, and maybe even to determine whether the center of our galaxy contains a wormhole.

6 Comments

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Robert1234

11/18/11 at 4:58 am

Robert1234 More proof that America just isn't with it in science any longer. After all, science now is a matter of faith, according to the majority of politicians.

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pheonix1012

12/13/11 at 11:33 am

@Robert1234

Then stand out from the crowd and find a meaningful way to contribute to scientific plight. But, do it for the greater good of humanity. It's greater than the small measure of national pride. Only so many will care about who does what in science for a country, and they really don't matter. They could never see the beauty that comes with discover because they only measure the gains of personal application. This is why big news in science is never as big as big news in engineering. People don't realize.

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CodeZero

12/13/11 at 11:40 am

~awaiting revolutionary findings~

I really don't care who finds what, we all live in the same place, under the same sky, breathing the same air, drinking the same water and eating the same fruits of the Earth.

Playing Devil's Advocate since 1978

"The only constant in the universe is change"
-Heraclitus of Ephesus 535 BC - 475 BC

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I4Future

12/13/11 at 8:00 pm

I agree, Science has no nationality. A discovery made by a Russian is just as important as one made by an Iraqi, or and American. We are all the same species, I grow tired of people who constantly bad mouth others so they can make a point that is not worth anything.

This is a huge undertaking that is quite amazing, I am extremely proud to be part of an era of the human race were we can build such things as this. BRAVO!

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