World's biggest radiotelescope launched in Netherlands!

Radical Technology! ^ | 6-13-10 | James

[iloveamerica1980]

Filed under science: Scientists in the Netherlands unveiled the largest radiotelescope in the world on Saturday, saying it was capable of detecting faint signals from almost as far back as the Big Bang. In this video representatives from the University of Portsmouth and other southern UK universities went to a field in Chilbolton to help put together LOFAR, a new radio telescope the size of Europe. Your read correctly!

[chuck_the_tv_out]

“Your read correctly!”

I are?

[raybbr]

...saying it was capable of detecting faint signals from almost as far back as the Big Bang.

Something about that statement bothers me. If everything is radiating out from the Big Bang then how could radio waves from then still be heard? The only way that's possible is if the stars were traveling faster than the speed of light and then slowed down somehow to allow the radio waves to catch up.

Just my thoughts.

[UCANSEE2]

then how could radio waves from then still be heard?

Because the radio waves kept going until the reached the end of the Universe , and then bounced back. They kept bouncing back and forth between the original 'center' of the Universe (where they hit each other and rebound) and the end of the Universe, which is hard like a turtle's shell.

That is how they will be able to still 'receive' the radio waves, even though they are very, very weak by now. That's why it takes such a big radio-telescope.

[UCANSEE2]

(Sorry)

“Because the radio waves kept going until the reached THEY...”

[fieldmarshaldj]

"as far back as the Big Bang."

I miss those, it's been so long.

[NormsRevenge]

It can read the license plate of the celestial hooligan who dropped the seed that became our Universe.. or so I hear.. ;-)

Pretty cool stuff.

[raybbr]

They kept bouncing back and forth between the original 'center' of the Universe (where they hit each other and rebound) and the end of the Universe, which is hard like a turtle's shell.

Huh? It's all one big giant ball and we're on the inside? What happens when solar systems start crashing into the "wall"?

[UCANSEE2]

Another possibility is suggested by your comment.

Light travels faster than sound. So, the ‘sound’ of the Big Bang just got here. Since it took that long, me must not be any where near the center of the Universe.

Which goes against my belief that I may be the actual exact center of the Universe.

[UCANSEE2]

What happens when solar systems start crashing into the "wall"?

Well, first off it is whole galaxies, not just single solar systems.

Second, what happens is that they bounce off just like the radio waves, and come careening back at random angles toward the center of the Universe.

That explains why not all galaxies are moving AWAY from the center of the Universe.

[raybbr]

Light travels faster than sound. So, the ‘sound’ of the Big Bang just got here. Since it took that long, me must not be any where near the center of the Universe.

Radio waves travel at the speed of light in the vacuum of space.

Which goes against my belief that I may be the actual exact center of the Universe.

Well, Stephen Chu Obama's Nobel Prize winning scientist could have told you that.

[UCANSEE2]

Radio waves travel at the speed of light in the vacuum of space.

You would ruin my story with such a minor detail?

: (

[Cribb]

Since you seem to be well versed upon the inner-workings of the universe, when we view the images of the galaxies and their direction of rotation (some being clockwise and others being counter-clockwise) - is that due to the fact that some are being viewed from the top and others from the reverse side? (and in reality they all spin in the same direction)

Inquiring minds would like to know.

[humblegunner]

Here’s the video link for those not wishing to visit your blog:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXnDNP6VLtI&feature=player_embedded

[Lonesome in Massachussets]

I thought it was because the Universe is finite, isotropic and expanding, at least according to current theory. The radiation from the big bang is trapped in the finite Universe, as the Universe expands their wavelength increases and they are absorbed by interactions with dust and gas and become increasingly faint.

This array is only planned to be the largest radio telescope, as measured by aperture, not baseline or resolution. It is not the largest telescope in the world yet. It's an interesting instrument. I wonder if the Caliph of Europe will find it to be an infidel perversion and dismantle it, as the Caliph of Egypt did to the library at Alexandria.

[dr_lew]

All this reminds me of the second entry in the Oxford Book of Science Fiction Stories, Finis by Frank L. Pollack, written in 1906. ( H.G. Wells' The Land Ironclads is the first. )

In Finis an astronomer theorizes that there is a huge "central sun" to the universe, but its light hasn't gotten to the earth yet. Of course, it duly arrives and the story is occupied with describing the resultant cataclysm.

[raybbr]

Since you seem to be well versed upon the inner-workings of the universe, when we view the images of the galaxies and their direction of rotation (some being clockwise and others being counter-clockwise) - is that due to the fact that some are being viewed from the top and others from the reverse side? (and in reality they all spin in the same direction)

Maybe it's an example of Universal Retrograde...

[Cribb]

Thanks - but I don't think so, since retrograde refers to the apparent movement of other planets as viewed in relation to our (earth's) movement (orbit), wherein they periodically tend to reverse course for a short period of time.

[Impy]

The combined max size of the individual telescopes that will make this thing up is “1 square kilometre”. That’s not the size of Europe. It’s about twice the size of the Vatican City. So while we’ve read it correctly it’s not a correct statement.