Through Images Astronomers rely heavily upon the use of computers to understand the immense amount of data collected by radiotelescope arrays.
Computers collect data during observations and convert it into images or other formats for analysis.
Until recently, the capacity of arrays to generate data far exceeded the scientists' computational capabilities to process and analyze that data. Even at present, image formation can sometimes require months of computing time and severely impede the research process. Eliminating such delays between observation and analysis, thus enabling realtime astronomy , demands new computing techniques and more powerful computers. Future plans to add more dishes to the BIMA array have also reinforced this need. Since 1992, the Federal Government has enacted legislation to fund and coordinate the development of a national infrastructure for advanced computing and communications.