Right now we are devoting very little time and money to detecting Earth-threatening asteroids. I thought of a new tool that could help find and map more items in the solar system.

This idea would utilize half a dozen telescopes that would send images every 10 or 15 seconds to Earth to a central processing station that would compile them into movies. The telescopes would each have a visual range of maybe a little less than half of the sky (like the interior of a ball split in half). Each telescope would be position in orbit at the four corners of the globe and each pole looking straight out.

While the scientists wouldn't need the following, I think this would be a cool feature - have an exhibit of this "movie" playing live at Nasa or Disney's Epcot Center in a gigantic globe (similar to Xavier's Cerebro from the X-Men movies).

Back to the serious science - these telescopes wouldn't necessarily be the highest-power telescopes that money could buy - they'd need to be built with longevity and reliability in mind, not necessarily sensitivity. The idea is that the data sent from this system would be easy enough to analyze by a computer looking for moving objects and those objects, once detected, could be analyzed by other, higher-power telescopes.

Would our current asteroid-hunters benefit from this system? Would you like to go someplace to stand in the middle of a huge room and see what our planet sees? Imagine turning around in this big room and seeing the sun on one side and the moon on the other, possibly the International Space Station as a moving blip across the sky. Imagine seeing eclipses this way, or shuttle missions.

The first working Stellar Cartography room.

What do you think of this idea or comment?
(You can change your vote at any time)

I agree

No opinion

I disagree