James Webb Space Telescope News

[Lei]

James Webb Space Telescope - NASA Science

blogs.nasa.gov

This is so 4k. I can live here. Yummy

 

[Chomiq]

New Webb Image Captures Clearest View of Neptune’s Rings in Decades - NASA

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows off its capabilities closer to home with its first image of Neptune. Not only has Webb captured the clearest view of this distant planet’s rings in more than 30 years, but its cameras reveal the ice giant in a whole new light.

www.nasa.gov

Also, there seem to be some technical issues with the MIRI instrument:

James Webb Space Telescope - NASA Science

blogs.nasa.gov

 

[Shrek]

Scientists May Have Really Screwed Up on Early James Webb Findings (msn.com)

 

[lexluthermiester]

Scientists May Have Really Screwed Up on Early James Webb Findings (msn.com)

LOL! Shocking.. Who called it...

James Webb Space Telescope News

That depends on the field of view. While true, the image in question does not show anything that can produce lensing. Have you even gone to Webb's page about this? From the Webb site hosting this image: "Bound together by gravity in a galaxy cluster, they are bending the light from galaxies...

www.techpowerup.com

 

[ExcuseMeWtf]

But according to new reporting by Nature, the telescope hadn't been fully calibrated when the data was first released, which is now sending some astronomers scrambling to see if their calculations are now obsolete.

Clickbait at its worst. Unless they were the same people, it's not really scientists doing papers who screwed up here, but the folks responsible for calibration of telescope, who did that improperly...

 

[lexluthermiester]

Clickbait at its worst. Unless they were the same people, it's not really scientists doing papers who screwed up here, but the folks responsible for calibration of telescope, who did that improperly...

Either way, something was not done properly and as a result many of the images collected were improperly analyzed. The conclusions made as a result were flawed and need reassessment.

 

[birdie]

Pillars of Creation:

Hubble vs Webb:

Full image (155MB PNG).

 

[cvaldes]

For TPU readers in the USA, NOVA (PBS) is airing a new episode about the James Webb Space Telescope called "New Eye on the Universe" which includes imagery from the new telescope.

New Eye on the Universe

See the latest stunning images and discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope.

www.pbs.org

Check your local listings but the terrestrial broadcast is likely 9pm in your time zone.

For PBS subscribers, this episode will likely be available via stream from PBS Passport.

 

[Space Lynx]

For TPU readers in the USA, NOVA (PBS) is airing a new episode about the James Webb Space Telescope called "New Eye on the Universe" which includes imagery from the new telescope.

New Eye on the Universe

See the latest stunning images and discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope.

www.pbs.org

Check your local listings but the terrestrial broadcast is likely 9pm in your time zone.

For PBS subscribers, this episode will likely be available via stream from PBS Passport.

just fyi, I have no PBS Passport, and no login, and it is letting me watch the entire 52 minute first episode right now without issue streaming it from your link in your post.



then after I watch this I

 

[lexluthermiester]

Pillars of Creation:

Hubble vs Webb:
View attachment 266271

Full image (155MB PNG).

I meant to comment about this last year but forgot to. I actually like the Hubble version better. While there is more detail in the JWST version, the Hubble version looks better, visually and makes for a much better and more striking photo. However, from purely scientific perspective, the JWST version is more useful.

 

[Space Lynx]

I am 16 minutes into the New Eye on the Universe episode, I am watching at 1.5x speed, nice of PBS to give that option. So far it is pretty good, very good graphics in it, highly polished video. For only being streamable in 1080p it looks damn near 4k... they don't use YouTube, it's their own in house video thingy. Whoever is running that is top notch, cause it is excellent all around.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

For TPU readers in the USA, NOVA (PBS) is airing a new episode about the James Webb Space Telescope called "New Eye on the Universe" which includes imagery from the new telescope.

New Eye on the Universe

See the latest stunning images and discoveries from the James Webb Space Telescope.

www.pbs.org

Check your local listings but the terrestrial broadcast is likely 9pm in your time zone.

For PBS subscribers, this episode will likely be available via stream from PBS Passport.

Sadly, this is geoblocked from RotW.

 

[Wirko]

I meant to comment about this last year but forgot to. I actually like the Hubble version better. While there is more detail in the JWST version, the Hubble version looks better, visually and make for a much better and more striking photo. However, from purely scientific perspective, the JWST version is more useful.

I doubt that astronomers even use false colour photos for scientific purposes. They use monochrome images individually or in sets for photogrammetry, and spectra of points/regions in the sky.

But they also have large polished false colour posters of galaxies in their hallways and offices, that's for sure.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

Europe now has its first "International Dark Sky Sanctuary" - Ynys Enlli (Bardsey Island) in the Irish Sea, just off the tip of Wales' Llŷn Peninsula.
The nearest source of light pollution is Dublin, 70 miles across the sea.

Dark and remote North Wales island becomes Europe's first stargazing 'sanctuary'

Ynys Enlli is hoping for a tourism boost after its night skies were recognised as being 'exceptional'

www.dailypost.co.uk

 

[lexluthermiester]

I doubt that astronomers even use false colour photos for scientific purposes.

You'd be surprised how much science can be done with false colour photos. However...

They use monochrome images individually or in sets for photogrammetry, and spectra of points/regions in the sky.

But they also have large polished false colour posters of galaxies in their hallways and offices, that's for sure.

...you're spot on with these points.

 

[Space Lynx]

You'd be surprised how much science can be done with false colour photos. However...

...you're spot on with these points.

in that PBS video they talk about the images from the JWST and then they interview the artist "who brings them into the visible spectrum" I was surprised by how much of it was left up to artistic interpretation. its very possible the images we see from the JWST aka the ones the public sees aren't what those areas look like at all - if we hypothetically were on a rocket ship closer to them and able to look out the window.

I find this to be the most troubling, because the artistic interpretation really should be more science based imo, but that PBS video showed a guy really just making it look anyway he wanted, and he even showed different versions and just picked which one was most beautiful to look at.

I don't know, I didn't realize this was how it was done and it kind of bums me out.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I don't know, I didn't realize this was how it was done and it kind of bums me out.

Don't let it burn you out. It's important to keep the proper context. The base science being done is not at all "artistic interpretation". The visual representations are where that comes into play. The raw data is ALWAYS taken at face value and is strictly based on merit and factual information.

 

[mechtech]

I meant to comment about this last year but forgot to. I actually like the Hubble version better. While there is more detail in the JWST version, the Hubble version looks better, visually and makes for a much better and more striking photo. However, from purely scientific perspective, the JWST version is more useful.

Which makes sense since Hubble is the visible colour spectrum and not the infrared like Webb. Need infrared to cut through the dust and capture wavelengths that have increased over time/distance too look further back in time.

But ya a new Hubble in the visible spectrum would be nice for those true to life images.

 

[Wirko]

in that PBS video they talk about the images from the JWST and then they interview the artist "who brings them into the visible spectrum" I was surprised by how much of it was left up to artistic interpretation. its very possible the images we see from the JWST aka the ones the public sees aren't what those areas look like at all - if we hypothetically were on a rocket ship closer to them and able to look out the window.

Those stars and gas clouds and other things could be too faint to see at all (even if you were close!), too faint to see in colour (humans see all stars as white dots, which they aren't), too bright to look at, or bright enough to turn you into plasma. Even if we ignore the fact that visible light is not the entire observable radiation.

I find this to be the most troubling, because the artistic interpretation really should be more science based imo, but that PBS video showed a guy really just making it look anyway he wanted, and he even showed different versions and just picked which one was most beautiful to look at.

I don't know, I didn't realize this was how it was done and it kind of bums me out.

You needn't go that far into outer space. I've seen my dentist manipulate the (monochrome) X-ray image of my tooth so he could better see details he needed to see. Positive, negative, rainbow colour palette, contrast enhancement. Observing the negative image is a common technique used by both radiologists and astronomers.

 

[Lew Zealand]

in that PBS video they talk about the images from the JWST and then they interview the artist "who brings them into the visible spectrum" I was surprised by how much of it was left up to artistic interpretation. its very possible the images we see from the JWST aka the ones the public sees aren't what those areas look like at all - if we hypothetically were on a rocket ship closer to them and able to look out the window.

I find this to be the most troubling, because the artistic interpretation really should be more science based imo, but that PBS video showed a guy really just making it look anyway he wanted, and he even showed different versions and just picked which one was most beautiful to look at.

I don't know, I didn't realize this was how it was done and it kind of bums me out.

First of all, you can get a decent telescope and see the thing for yourself. They will be tiny and in monochrome (not bright enough to stimulate your color vision) and you'll need a dark sky site to make the most out of them, but they're visible in my light-polluted SoCal backyard on clearer nights.

The Hubble color palette is also false color so anything you see in the Hubble images is also color-shifted to make prettier pictures. They're not shifted as far in the spectrum as the Hubble works mostly in visible wavelengths, but the emission spectra they are detecting does not line up perfectly with your eyes' R G B. The Hubble color palette maps to those wavelengths for the best visibility in public pictures.

And as others mentioned, the JWST is an infrared telescope specifically because the IR spectrum penetrates dust better than visible and probably also because IR is absorbed by our atmosphere more than visible light so the best place for an IR scope is in space, above that water vapor. Since IR is invisible to your eyes, these pictures need to be color-shifted. Otherwise you'd be looking at a pretty much blank picture of visible light.

So, yes it's completely arbitrary how they want to map the JWST's colors to visible wavelengths as it's all false color, no color is "more false" than any other color.

None of this should bum you out, it's necessary. Instead find a local dark sky site in the summer where local amateur astronomers gather on new moon weekends and ask to look through the bigger scopes there at the Eagle Nebula (where the POC are) and gather all those photons with your own eyes. It's pretty awesome. And they love to share their views of the night skies.

 

[KLiKzg]

Better to watch these, then all those false claims on YouTube about JWST detecting aliens.

Don't people get bored with all those pseudo science?

 

[lexluthermiester]

But ya a new Hubble in the visible spectrum would be nice for those true to life images.

Agreed! We really do need an new version of Hubble that can use all of the modern tech we have created since it's last upgrade. JWST is an excellent tool for scientific advancement, but we need to continue the area of science Hubble started.

Better to watch these, then all those false claims on YouTube about JWST detecting aliens.

Don't people get bored with all those pseudo science?

Theories you mean. The idea that we're alone in the Universe, or even just our Galaxy, is silly and absurd almost beyond reason. The laws of numerical probabilities rule out the idea that we are alone. There's life out there and someday we'll find it, if it doesn't find us first.

 

[Space Lynx]

Better to watch these, then all those false claims on YouTube about JWST detecting aliens.

Don't people get bored with all those pseudo science?

I didn't even know this was a "thing", I always just watch from trusted sources out of habit.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

Agreed! We really do need an new version of Hubble that can use all of the modern tech we have created since it's last upgrade. JWST is an excellent tool for scientific advancement, but we need to continue the area of science Hubble started.

You just described the "Habitable Worlds Observatory" project.

 

[Space Lynx]

Does anyone know if there are any plans to take JWST and point it at our solar system just to see what's "behind" us? Or would the sun be so bright it wouldn't work since its so "close" to the JWST?