theSkyNet needs you!

Have a computer? Want to help astronomers make awesome discoveries and understand our Universe?

Your computer is bored. It has spare processing power nearly all of the time that could be used to do something cool. So why not let it?

The Science Bit

By connecting 100s and 1000s of computers together through the Internet, it’s possible to simulate a single machine capable of doing some pretty amazing stuff.

theSkyNet is a community computing project dedicated to radio astronomy. Radio astronomers use radio telescopes (of course) to observe the Universe at radio wavelengths (still with me?). All day, every day, signals from distant galaxies, stars and other cosmic bits and pieces arrive at the Earth in the form of radio waves. Once detected by a radio telescope the signal is processed by computers and used by scientists to support a theory or inspire a new one.

The Computer Bit

When you join theSkyNet your computer will help radio astronomers process information and answer some of the big questions we have about the Universe.
As a part of theSkyNet community your computer will be called upon to process small packets of data, but you wont even notice it’s going on. The key to theSkyNet is to have lots of computers connected, with each doing only a little, but it all adding up to a lot.

At the heart of theSkyNet is this website, theSkyNet.org where you’ll find alliances you’ve joined stack up against others. The more data you and your alliances process, the more status you’ll have within theSkyNet community.

But that’s not it, because as theSkyNet project evolves we’ll be adding more features for you to explore. In the pipeline we have visualisation tools to help you understand the data you’re processing and even an opportunity to help identify and catalogue radio wave sources.

If you do join theskynet make sure you join the Gibraltar Skynet Alliance currently ranked 84th and help the Gib alliance move up the ranking ladder.

You can find theskynet at www.theskynet.org