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Internet2 Lets Professor be in Two Places at the Same Time!Dr. William Keel has been an astronomy professor with The University of Alabama since 1987. As you might imagine, he spends quite a bit of time using telescopes. However, we aren't talking about your average backyard telescopes. While still professing a fondness for the backyard type, for serious studies Dr. Keel uses really big telescopes, like the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (IRTF) at Mauna Kea, Hawaii, and the ones at Kitt Peak National Observatory in Arizona. Unlike the telescopes most of us have used, these telescopes don't just provide a view of the sky; they measure levels of electromagnetic energy and record data—lots of data. This data can then be used to generate images. Since then, not only has it become much easier for Dr. Keel and his collaborators to exchange information, but he has also been able to sit in his office on campus and participate in viewing sessions on some of the large telescopes mentioned above. Remote use of ground-based telescopes was one of the applications in the University's original I2 proposal, and it has the potential to alleviate time and money constraints. Scheduling problems often occur in astronomical research. Viewing at most of the large telescopes involves travel and overnight stays, which takes time away from other professional and family concerns. This summer, Dr. Keel arrived home from a meeting in Germany to find that his wife had been in a car accident; she had a few broken ribs and couldn't drive. He had scheduled observations at Kitt Peak the next week. The reservations were made months in advance, but he wasn't going to leave his injured wife alone to handle the children. Luckily, some of his collaborators were going to be able to go to the observatory, so he was able to participate in the viewing in close-to-real time. During the viewing, he and his collaborators exchanged various versions of the data in 300 MB pieces—equivalent to almost 209 floppy disks. With I2, these huge sets of data could be downloaded in thirty minutes. Since it took twenty to thirty minutes to actually take each "picture" of a section of the sky, Dr. Keel had time to download the data before the next exposure was finished. Without Internet2, he probably would have had to miss the viewing. Internet2 is also improving other areas of Dr. Keel's work. In order to support a talk he gave at the previously-mentioned meeting in Germany, he downloaded two GB of data from the Hubble Space Telescope archive. It would take almost six days to download that much information on most home modem connections! On I2, however, it could be downloaded in under four hours. Despite all the benefits Dr. Keel is already seeing from the Internet2 connection, there's still more to come. The campus network is in the process of being upgraded (see "Coming Soon" on page one), and when Gallalee Hall is completed, download times for his large data sets should decrease dramatically. |
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So
just how much data do these telescopes actually produce? Quite a
bit: a simple test image can easily be 134 MB in size. For comparison,
it would take 94 floppy disks to store that amount of data, and
downloading it on most current modems would take at least nine and
a half hours. Prior to the completion of the University's Internet2
(I2) connection, Dr. Keel's collaborations were hampered by
the amount of time it would take to transfer data between universities.
Every
academic researcher understands the importance of research funding.
Internet2 technologies let Dr. Keel and other researchers like him
take control over where their grant monies are used. When you factor
in airfare, housing, and other travel expenses, the cost of going
to Hawaii for one night of telescope viewing can be prohibitive.
Utilizing remote operation of the telescopes lets grant money go
further. While it can't completely replace hands-on operation
of the telescopes, it can allow better budgeting of travel funds.
Dr. Keel believes that researchers who don't take advantage
of these new capabilities will find themselves left behind as funding
goes to those who can accomplish more with the same amount of money.