Shh! World's largest radio telescope network goes live

parkes-radio-telescope_john-sarkissianThe world’s largest array of radio telescopes are joining together for 24 hours in order to observe some quasars.

In the next 24 hours, 35 telescopes on all seven continents will be linked to listen to 243 specific quasars. The point is to establish a baseline for further observations, since the quasars are stationary in the night sky, and provide a good basis for mapping.

The last time this attempted, the total number of 23 telescopes were used. These quasars are also used to set up the GPS system.