Omar,

Yes.

But the problems of unpredictable latency mean that one would be unable to use an Internet-connected array to perform interferometry - so you won't get a more detailed picture.

At best one would simply 'stack' the images in a non-coherent fashion - akin to making a telescope with a higher sensitivity, but not a higher angular resolution. The picture will just be brighter - still not a bad idea.

salaam 

James Garry thank you for your answer. do you think that more of the sky could be covered if enough volunteers from around the world would use there portable or unidirectional equipment similar to the seti screen saver project? could automated optical telescopes be used this way?

Omar,

Yes - better coverage would be an obvious advantage, but simple stacking of images just reduces the integration time. Without interferometry you would just get blurry images of an object even faster than usual.

(the angular resolution being dictated by the aperture width of the average telescope in your array)

 I wondered about this possibility also a few years ago:

Update: "Will amateur radio astronomers be the first to directly detect extrasolar planets?"

http://www.spacebanter.com/showthread.php?t=42182

  Bob Clark