The hunt for killer asteroids is on with the Pan-STARRS 1 telescope

The Pan-STARRS 1 telescope was unveiled on the Hawaiian island of Maui in 2007, and in early 2009, the telescope went fully online and began producing some amazing images. Now, the telescope has a nightly from dusk 'til dawn routine -- and it's looking for asteroids and comets which could threaten Earth. The PS-1, as it's known, boasts a 1,400 megapixel (that's 1.4 gigapixels!) sensor and can photograph an area about 36 times the size of the Moon in one exposure and is expected to map about one sixth of the sky per month. There's a sample shot of what the telescope's photographed below, but hit up the coverage link for many more.