High cost astronomy

[Jlabute]

Sneak peek?
Image captured during a stability test.
https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/coun ... rst-images

There are only a handful of stars in this image – distinguished by their diffraction spikes. The rest of the objects are thousands of faint galaxies, some in the nearby universe, but many, many more in the high redshift universe.

Wow, deepest pic ever taken. Amazing pic! Certainly not fake, unless NASA is lying.

[Bsuds]

To think that we are the only intelligent life forms in all of that is just not possible.

There has to be more than we could even count.

[Babba_not_Gump]

So many civilizations have come and gone, and so many more to come.

[JagXKR]

how do you know its not fake pics?

Because this is Computers, Science, Technology forum not the Conspiracies and Weird Science forum.
Inferring that the work of hundreds of Astrophysicists over decades is a lie, is truly rude and disgusting.

[JagXKR]

https://cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/DOtOMIoE
The gravitational lensing is so prevalent.

[Jlabute]

Holy galactica Batman, its the Bat signal.

[foenix]

Don't know if jwst is going to make it as long as hoped. Its had 19 micrometeoroid hits already. At this rate it won't last long. I was really hoping to get info on exoplanets. Good thing the other equipment out at L2 isn't getting hit.

Engineers estimated that Webb would endure about one impact per month that could be large enough to ding the mirror. And they decided that it was a risk worth living with. They calculated that impact pits would accumulate over time, but that the dents would cover only 0.1% of the primary mirror after 10 years. Telescopes can still work if part of their primary mirror is damaged.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-01877-8

[Sonny Taylor]

Since JWST is optimized for part of the infrared spectrum, it's of course necessary to interpret (process) the infrared data and assign certain infrared wavelengths to certain visible colours to make an image. The result is spectacular in the infrared images from JWST of well known pieces of sky.

I think this is a pretty good primer on how infrared "colours" are chosen while processing infrared images to create visible images.

The page title is "Are the Colors in Webb Telescope Images 'Fake'?".

https://gizmodo.com/webb-space-telescop ... 1849320633

The final paragraph in the article seems appropriate:

Collecting light in Webb’s hexagonal mirrors is only half the battle when it comes to seeing the distant universe. Translating what’s there is another beast entirely.

[JagXKR]

Hubble images are also "touched up" and enhanced. They are (mostly) not what the human eye would naturally see if they were say closer to where the image actually resides in space.
My hope is for a better image of Betelgeuse. That star has been so active and producing weird phenomena as to change how we expect a supernova type star, nearing it's end, to behave.
Really hope I'm around to see the explosion.
I believe it has occurred already.
https://scitechdaily.com/hubble-sees-re ... -eruption/

NASA’s Webb Space Telescope may be able to detect the ejected material in infrared light as it continues moving away from the star.

[JagXKR]

Should be very soon.
Personally I'm not in the Red Dwarf camp. Many believe it's possible but my belief is it's just a waste of time. So many factors against any life and close to zero chance of intelligent life.
Low hanging fruit comes to mind. Easier to view Red Dwarf systems due to luminosity. But just because it's easier to view does not mean it is a good candidate.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Habitabil ... rf_systems
However there is a tiny possibility for the ultra old M sequence stars that are more stable. Low but possible.

[Sonny Taylor]

Jag, jalabute, or any and all...Has anyone heard anything on Trappist 1? I thought they (NASA)were going to be releasing info on it a well over a week ago but silence...

I think you mentioned Trappist-1 previously as well so your curiosity is apparent. I had known about this system and it's planets for some time, but your question inspired me to research it further. I'm blown away by how similar the multiple planet's orbital resonances around the star are reminiscent of Jupiter and it's moons Europa, Io, Ganymede and Calisto. I didn't know that before.

I tried but don't think I can really answer your question. There was a rough image created from the fgs/nirris data available to the public while testing the telescope pointing, but I think you're looking for something more. This doesn't really cut it for me. What may look like planets seems to me to be pixelized telescope diffraction spikes.



Like you, I'd like to see imaging and science data with all appropriate JWST instruments in play.

I did find a (publicly available) JWST observing schedule:
https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/science-exec ... -schedules

I browsed through half of the weekly schedules posted but saw no mention of Trappist-1. The schedules are a bit cryptic so I also searched for one of Trappist-1's other designations: "2MASS J23062928–0502285". ...Nothing.

I also used this page's search and turned up nothing other than basic info on the discovery of Trappist-1.

This was far from a waste of time though and perhaps you've already gone the search route that I did. Thanks for triggering my deeper interest. I'm kinda hooked on Trappist-1 now too.

[Jlabute]

Quite a spectacular and clear shot of Jupiter. You can see the rings.

https://www.castanet.net/news/World/381 ... ons#381282

[Sonny Taylor]

Great shot. Interesting how you see blurred diffraction spikes from the auroras and perhaps as well from the equatorial belt. I guess it shows how bright Jupiter is to JWST's instruments.

I wonder what JWST images of Uranus and Neptune would look like. I've seen infrared images of both but I bet JWST would put them to shame.

[Sonny Taylor]

Not particularly high cost, but cool just the same:

The "Statue of Liberty" nebula (processed to re-assign colours and remove stars)...




Good source link: https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220920.html

I've never heard of it before.

[Sonny Taylor]

Do you remember "The Pillars of Creation" picture from Hubble taken in 1995? JWST has now imaged the same region.

Hubble's picture in visible light using the WFPC2 camera:




JWST's picture in near infrared using it's NIRCAM camera:




If your computer has lots of RAM and processor muscle , and you have good internet speed, you can take a look at this extremely detailed picture:

https://stsci-opo.org/STScI-01GFNMZESKZ ... E0Z19G.png

It may take some seconds to load, but if you click on part of the picture, the amount of detail is stunning. I won't try to embed it here in the thread; it's too big. If you computer is somewhat less than "loaded for bear", you can probably still check out the link, though it will be slow to load and slow when you click on part of it to expand.