In 1900, a group of sponge divers found the Antikythera wreck off Point Glyphadia on the Greek island of Antikythera. Among the wreckage was the oldest example of an analogue computer – a hand-powered orrery, or mechanical model of our solar system that predicts the positions and motions of the planets and moon, including eclipses. […]
In an article last March, I talked about the titanic telescope that is to be built in either southern Africa or Australia/New Zealand. Well, in late May, the members of the SKA organization announced that the world’s largest radio telescope would be built in BOTH southern Africa and Australia/New Zealand. In phase one, Australia will host the […]
Interested in helping astronomers search outer space? It’s possible with a program called Einstein@Home, which allows your computer, when it’s idle, to help scientists search the skies for pulsars and other neutron stars. The idea behind the program, called distributed computing, is straightforward: downloaded software connects your home computer with thousands of others throughout the […]
