Pan-STARRS - Panoramic Survey Telescope & Rapid Response System (PS1) is operational and its goal is to look for asteroids that threaten earth while also investigating and mapping the universe and its biggest mysteries, dark matter and dark energy. It sits atop Hawaii's dormant Haleakala volcano.This sensitive digital camera was regarded as an unreachable dream just a few years ago, and was rated as one of the “20 marvels of modern engineering” by Gizmo Watch in 2008. Every 30 seconds PS1 snaps a 1,400-megapixel shot of a section of sky as large as 36 full moons—a view 3,600 times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope's main camera. One of these images would produce a 300-dpi print covering half a basketball court. The telescope gathers enough data to fill a thousand DVDs (nearly five terabytes) every night and maps a sixth of the sky each month.
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