One of the buzziest technologies in modern science may be running right under your feet. Fiber optic cables bring you the internet as data-rich pulses of light, but they also detect signals from the surrounding environment: Researchers can analyze the light that’s scattered when a volcanic eruption or tsunami jostles the wiring. Known as distributed acoustic sensing, or DAS, the …
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New fiber optic telescope 4MOST channels ‘The Fantastic Four’ photo of the day for July 24, 2025
With the arrival of the new “Fantastic Four: First Steps” film, the European Southern Observatory (ESO) has revealed its own new superhero, a fiber optic insrument known as the 4-metre Multi-Object Spectroscopic Telescope (4MOST). What is it? 4MOST is an instrument made of approximately 2436 individual fibers, with each collecting light from different sources simultaneously. This allows the telescope to …
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