According to Reuters, a new fiber-optic system will create a network linking seven astronomical observation locations in England, enabling astronomers to see deep into space. The new system will allow us to see farther than we’ve ever seen before and will be much more efficient. We’ll be able to look into deep space to see what happened billions of years ago. One person familiar with the new network said that the system will enable astronomers to collect in one day the data that traditionally takes three years to collect. You can watch a short video about this new network here.
Gamma Ray Explosion
In other deep space news, NASA’s Swift satellite recorded the oldest gamma ray explosion that we’ve ever seen. The explosion occurred more than 13 billion years ago, when the universe was relatively quite young. As Natalie Angier related in her wonderful book The Canon, it is from giant stars like the one that created this gamma ray burst that the universe gets much of its heavier elements. It’s awe inspiring to think that the elements that we have on Earth today were made from these giant stars. It’s also quite impressive to consider the immensity of the universe, as evidenced by this gamma ray burst: the light from this gamma ray burst has been traveling at 186,000 miles per second for more than 13 billion years to reach us.
