https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages

(07-13-2022, 05:14 PM)Lucidus Wrote: https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages

I absolutely love research of outer space. I wonder if "someone" is pointing back at us and talking about how far their telescope looked. 

That could be completely fake and no one would ever know.

There is no one to say "Hey, that's not how it looks through my telescope."

(07-13-2022, 10:42 PM)fredtoast Wrote: That could be completely fake and no one would ever know.

There is no one to say "Hey, that's not how it looks through my telescope."

https://webb.nasa.gov/content/meetTheTeam/team.html

That's a hell of a lot of organizations and countries involved which probably includes 1,000s of people involved to some degree.   If it was bullshit someone would have probably leaked it by now.  I guess you could argue that they are all involved in some international conspiracy but I find that highly unlikely.    But maybe the moon landings were fake as well.       

But yeah for sure there is no way for the average person to know if it was fake.  But given all the organizations involved I feel it is legit.

Some pretty amazing photos!

You know..My first reaction when I first saw those was to think, 'Really? That's the best computer generated art NASA could come up with for a few billion dollars?' 
I dunno..It's going to have to look a bit more real before I'm biting. For all we know the damned thing blew up and ran into a Russian spy satellite and neither side wants to talk about it.. LOL I've seen better artwork on bathroom walls at dirty book stores!  ...Not that I've spend a great deal of time gazing at dirty bookstore bathroom walls or anything.. 

Think its safe to say there is life out there.... somewhere Out there....

(07-14-2022, 03:38 PM)George Cantstandya Wrote: https://webb.nasa.gov/content/meetTheTeam/team.html

That's a hell of a lot of organizations and countries involved which probably includes 1,000s of people involved to some degree.   If it was bullshit someone would have probably leaked it by now.  I guess you could argue that they are all involved in some international conspiracy but I find that highly unlikely.    But maybe the moon landings were fake as well.       

But yeah for sure there is no way for the average person to know if it was fake.  But given all the organizations involved I feel it is legit.

Fred's just disappointed that he can't see Uranus 

(07-18-2022, 04:25 PM)Awful Llama Wrote: Fred's just disappointed that he can't see Uranus 

**unbuckles asteroid belt**

(07-13-2022, 10:42 PM)fredtoast Wrote: That could be completely fake and no one would ever know.

There is no one to say "Hey, that's not how it looks through my telescope."

How Webb’s photos are colorized
"Webb’s images are moved up the electromagnetic spectrum from a part we can’t perceive into the visible light part that we can see.

They take mono brightness images from Webb using up to 29 different narrowband filters, each of which detects different wavelengths of infrared light. They them assign each filter’s collected light a different visible color, from the reddest red light has the longest wavelength) to blue (which has the shortest wavelength). They then create a composite image."

https://www.forbes.com/sites/jamiecartereurope/2022/07/18/yes-nasa-did-manipulate-the-webb-telescopes-first-color-images-last-week/?sh=70e6033a3e41

I enjoy these images, but I also wonder "what's the point?" We spend billions of dollars to see star systems that may never even exist anymore...and if they do, we'll never visit them.

If for entertainment, then sure I get it. But at this point why even bother trying to (as stated by NASA):

-find first light in the universe
-study the birth of stars/planets
-find? (i guess) the first galaxies in the universe

If we're going to invest in the universe, maybe we should start looking at travel and places much closer?

A colossal waste of time and money IMO...though I'll still marvel at the pictures anytime they come out

(07-13-2022, 10:42 PM)fredtoast Wrote: That could be completely fake and no one would ever know.

There is no one to say "Hey, that's not how it looks through my telescope."

exactly. 

(07-24-2022, 01:03 PM)basballguy Wrote: I enjoy these images, but I also wonder "what's the point?"  We spend billions of dollars to see star systems that may never even exist anymore...and if they do, we'll never visit them.  

Today the moon landing is celebrated as one of the greatest achievements in the history of the United States.  However, a lot of people don't realize that at the time it happened there was a lot of protest and civil unrest over the amount of money being spent on a moon landing.  A lot of citizens felt it was a waste of resources when there were poverty issues in our country.

(07-24-2022, 01:03 PM)basballguy Wrote: I enjoy these images, but I also wonder "what's the point?"  We spend billions of dollars to see star systems that may never even exist anymore...and if they do, we'll never visit them.  

If for entertainment, then sure I get it.  But at this point why even bother trying to (as stated by NASA):

-find first light in the universe
-study the birth of stars/planets
-find? (i guess) the first galaxies in the universe

If we're going to invest in the universe, maybe we should start looking at travel and places much closer?

A colossal waste of time and money IMO...though I'll still marvel at the pictures anytime they come out

The answer to these questions matter because they give scientists a better understanding of the nature of things. Which is always the first step towards any innovation. Answering questions about the universe can lead to breakthroughs on many fields that might look unrelated at first glance, including quantum physics for example. I am not too versed in these fields to make an air-tight case about that, but I had enough of a glance to know things are often way more complicated, entangled and relevant than they appear for the outsider, determining what is a waste of resources and what isn't.

Just heuristically, the sun does fusion power, something we'd very much like to adapt. Studying the sun and the birth of suns could very well point to say a catalyst of sorts, or to a set of circumstances that starts the solar oven, something we can learn from. Or not, I don't know. But one won't know unless one tries to understand, hence trying to understand as much as possible seems to be a logical goal for humankind to me.

(07-24-2022, 01:03 PM)basballguy Wrote: I enjoy these images, but I also wonder "what's the point?"  We spend billions of dollars to see star systems that may never even exist anymore...and if they do, we'll never visit them.  

If for entertainment, then sure I get it.  But at this point why even bother trying to (as stated by NASA):

-find first light in the universe
-study the birth of stars/planets
-find? (i guess) the first galaxies in the universe

If we're going to invest in the universe, maybe we should start looking at travel and places much closer?

A colossal waste of time and money IMO...though I'll still marvel at the pictures anytime they come out

There have been some pretty significant inventions/advancements that have come from the hands of NASA. Water filters, freeze drying, LED, smoke detectors, solar cells, long distance telecom... 

NASA is as much a research organization as they are an exploratory one. 

(07-27-2022, 02:33 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: There have been some pretty significant inventions/advancements that have come from the hands of NASA. Water filters, freeze drying, LED, smoke detectors, solar cells, long distance telecom... 

NASA is as much a research organization as they are an exploratory one. 

I didn't say NASA was a waste of money.  :)  I was questioning the goals of the webb telescope and the value they'd return.  

Also,

The fact that the sun is going to die in the future and eventually engulf earth is terrifying to think about. Like humans are definitely going to become extinct, its just a matter of time.

I know this won't happen for billions of years, but its unsettling to think about.

(07-27-2022, 03:10 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: Also,

The fact that the sun is going to die in the future and eventually engulf earth is terrifying to think about. Like humans are definitely going to become extinct, its just a matter of time.

I know this won't happen for billions of years, but its unsettling to think about.

By the time the sun burns out humans will be living on a new terraformed Planet Trump in a solar system with a much better sun.  No more of this "dwarf star" bullshit.

(07-25-2022, 12:52 PM)hollodero Wrote: The answer to these questions matter because they give scientists a better understanding of the nature of things. Which is always the first step towards any innovation. Answering questions about the universe can lead to breakthroughs on many fields that might look unrelated at first glance, including quantum physics for example. I am not too versed in these fields to make an air-tight case about that, but I had enough of a glance to know things are often way more complicated, entangled and relevant than they appear for the outsider, determining what is a waste of resources and what isn't.

Just heuristically, the sun does fusion power, something we'd very much like to adapt. Studying the sun and the birth of suns could very well point to say a catalyst of sorts, or to a set of circumstances that starts the solar oven, something we can learn from. Or not, I don't know. But one won't know unless one tries to understand, hence trying to understand as much as possible seems to be a logical goal for humankind to me..

Better measurement devices (Webb) --> Better understanding of physics --> Better technology

(07-25-2022, 11:53 AM)fredtoast Wrote: Today the moon landing is celebrated as one of the greatest achievements in the history of the United States.  However, a lot of people don't realize that at the time it happened there was a lot of protest and civil unrest over the amount of money being spent on a moon landing.  A lot of citizens felt it was a waste of resources when there were poverty issues in our country.

(07-27-2022, 02:33 PM)WeezyBengal Wrote: There have been some pretty significant inventions/advancements that have come from the hands of NASA. Water filters, freeze drying, LED, smoke detectors, solar cells, long distance telecom... 

NASA is as much a research organization as they are an exploratory one. 

These^. The moon landing on its own was largely a political move, but the significant advances in technology as a result of that project are staggering. So is the amount of money that's been returned back into the economy as a result of those advances. There is more at play than grownups playing with rockets and looking through telescopes.