Briefs

The system uses Grid computing technology to share and analyse the data quickly, enabling the software to react quickly.

"What is so important here is that we have developed an intelligent observing system," said Dr Alasdair Allan of the University of Exeter.

"It thinks and reacts for itself, deciding whether something it has discovered is interesting enough to need more observations. If more observations are needed, it just goes ahead and gets them."

To deal with this issue, the Intelligent Agents were created by the eScience Telescopes for Astronomical Research project, a joint venture by the University of Exeter and the Liverpool John Moores University.

The smart programs took live images and compared them with previous infrared maps of the same area.

It detected a dwarf nova - a star which experiences sudden flares in its brightness.

See more at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3191776.stm