Scientists Propose Planet-Sized Telescope

A group of researchers suggest that we could use existing quantum computing methods to build massive telescope array the size of entire planets.

The team led by Zixin Huang at Macquarie University in Australia argues that these theoretical observatories could allow us to peek even further into deep space and resolve distant targets in much higher resolution.

In the world of astronomy, that means an array of individual telescopes that form a single telescope with a much larger telescope.

Make It Quantum

Each photon that arrives at the telescope array could be processed one at a time and recorded into a special quantum memory storage device.

The individual telescopes could share information with each other instantly since the data from these photons would be quantum entangled.

Self Correction

The final image could still be a mess, which is where self-correcting quantum computers come in.

According to previous research, quantum computers would be able to correct their own errors without having to run numerical simulations.

The idea of a planet-sized quantum telescope isn't much more than an exciting idea right now, a suggestion of what quantum computers could on one day be capable of.

There are many more challenges that need to be addressed for a planet-sized device, but this is a good first step.

The quantum technique could be used to make telescopes that are planet-sized.

The experiment suggests that consciousness may be tied to quantum physics.