.One of the fundamental questions astronomy has yet to answer is where are we in relation to the rest of the universe? In other words, how is the universe structured?
Astrophysicists like the UW's George Lake are attempting to model structures in the universe at the very largest scales using computer simulations and other tools. But when it comes to filling in structural details at more intermediate levels of detail, the best reference tool still available to astronomers worldwide is a cumbersome hard-copy set of standard photographic images of the heavens that fills several filing cabinets.
Help is on the way: Starting later this year, a specially designed, 2.5-meter telescope being installed on a mountain peak in south-central New Mexico will begin making the most detailed celestial census in human history. Moreover, as its name implies, the five-year, $41.5-million Sloan Digital Sky Survey will make use of the most advanced astronomical observing technology available today.
In essence, the survey represents the most ambitious undertaking ever to photograph and catalogue about a fourth of the celestial sky. Even so, the project expects to digitally record and store images of new fewer than 100 million stars, 100 million galaxies and 100,000 quasars--generating a data base likely to rival the heavily publicized digital girth of the Human Genome Project, according to the UW's Bruce Margon. Primary engineering expertise for the project is being provided by the UW, he adds. END
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