Skip to Content
Uncategorized

AstroTwitter to Reveal Where Telescopes Are Pointing

The success of the Twitter feed from NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander is leading to a new generation of scientific communications.


Ever stared at a giant telescope and wondered what it’s looking at?

You’re not alone. So has Stuart Lowe, which is a little odd since he helps run a radio telescope at the Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, in Manchester, U.K.

But Lowe has an answer. Why not generate a Twitter feed associated with a telescope that announces in real time what it is looking at? He says that it may even be possible to create a mashup that displays the telescope’s target in apps such as Google Sky or Microsoft’s World Wide Telescope. He calls the service AstroTwitter.

Cool idea–and not just because it means that you’ll never wonder what a telescope is looking at again. Astronomers could use the service to check if their observations have been made, as requested. And they could also examine the stats to determine the most and least observed parts of the sky.

Lowe says that he got the idea from NASA’s highly successful Twitter feeds from the Phoenix Mars Lander last year. Various other spacecraft have since developed their own feeds. Telescopes seem a natural successor, although there is no word yet on a launch date for AstroTwitter.

But why stop there? Imagine Twitter feeds that tell us what synchrotrons are studying, or give status updates about the end of the world from CERN, or reveal what lasers such as the National Ignition Facility are zapping to smithereens. The list is endless.

What’s more, Twitter feeds could engage the public like no other form of communication.

Where do I sign up?

Ref: arxiv.org/abs/0907.0193: AstroTwitter

Keep Reading

Most Popular

Geoffrey Hinton tells us why he’s now scared of the tech he helped build

“I have suddenly switched my views on whether these things are going to be more intelligent than us.”

ChatGPT is going to change education, not destroy it

The narrative around cheating students doesn’t tell the whole story. Meet the teachers who think generative AI could actually make learning better.

Meet the people who use Notion to plan their whole lives

The workplace tool’s appeal extends far beyond organizing work projects. Many users find it’s just as useful for managing their free time.

Learning to code isn’t enough

Historically, learn-to-code efforts have provided opportunities for the few, but new efforts are aiming to be inclusive.

Stay connected

Illustration by Rose Wong

Get the latest updates from
MIT Technology Review

Discover special offers, top stories, upcoming events, and more.

Thank you for submitting your email!

Explore more newsletters

It looks like something went wrong.

We’re having trouble saving your preferences. Try refreshing this page and updating them one more time. If you continue to get this message, reach out to us at customer-service@technologyreview.com with a list of newsletters you’d like to receive.