Expo/Science & Industry/Whispers From the Cosmos

| Back | Up | Map | Glossary | Information |

How Much More Data Will Be Collected?

Ten dishes represents a 66 percent increase over six, but the data output increases by much more than three-fold. That's because the maximum amount of data collected by an array is proportional to its total number of baselines. This quantity, in turn, equals the total number of pairs of dishes, as given by the formula N(N-1)/2, where N = the total dishes in the array.

To put this in perspective, a observing run employing six dishes typically generates 30 to 80 megabytes (30 to 80 million bytes or 240 to 1,600 million bits) of data. Ten dishes would raise this output to 90 to 240 megabytes (million bytes) or 720 to 1,920 megabits (million bits). How can scientists turn the billions of bits into useful images?

Enter the number crunchers!

Return to Expanding the BIMA Array
Up to Planning for the Future: A Quest..

Exhibit Map
Glossary
Information Center

Copyright © 1995: Board of Trustees, University of Illinois

NCSA. Last modified 11/12/95