Space!

I did read that it will be able to analyse exoplanets and be able to look at colours they emit (thus allowing nasa to work out whether or not they are potentially habitable) which could be pretty interesting.

It's just a shame though that there isn't anything in existence powerful enough to zoom in on an exoplanet to the point where we could have a proper look.

OrangeRKN wrote:Bear in mind that while the James Webb should be able to see a lot further and in more detail than the Hubble, Hubble looks at light in the visible specturm whereas the James Webb looks at infrared. That's great for the science it's going to do, but the pictures might be different to what you are expecting!

Also worth noting that the great images we get shown from Hubble are actually composites of many different shots. I've got a nasa photography book and it details how each image is made, with things like the pillars of creation being fake so to speak - if you were to somehow go there, you woudlnt see anything like thsst photo.

Forgot to say, my Mrs got us tickets to go to a Tim Peak lecture later this year

Vermilion wrote:I did read that it will be able to analyse exoplanets and be able to look at colours they emit (thus allowing nasa to work out whether or not they are potentially habitable) which could be pretty interesting.

It's just a shame though that there isn't anything in existence powerful enough to zoom in on an exoplanet to the point where we could have a proper look.

I believe, though not 100% sure, that the telescope will be able to see exoplanets within a certain limited distance, though I know what you mean... I want to see structures, composition and aliens on the surface of planets, rather than something a little bigger than a dot.

It will be able to directly image exoplanets, in fact a handful of exoplanets have been directly imaged already! It will also detect exoplanets from them transiting in front of their stars - when a planet moves between its star and us it blocks out some of that star's light, and we can detect that drop in brightness, no different in principle to an eclipse. What's more exciting is that the properties of the light that passes through the atmosphere of a planet depends on the makeup of that atmosphere, so when we're detecting these planets we can also work out what their atmospheres are made up of. That might even give us clues to the existence of life, looking for signals of things like oxygen and methane.

Can it get alien nude pictures .

Peter Crisp wrote:Can it get alien nude pictures .

Finally, someone asks what we're all thinking.

Peter Crisp wrote:Can it get alien nude pictures .

As much as you want to see a beautiful alien woman with long green hair and six breasts, i'm sorry to say they are more likely to find something that resembles a roast chicken.

https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/scien ... 022-05-12/

Scientists on Thursday provided the first look at what they called the "gentle giant" lurking at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, unveiling an image of a supermassive black hole that devours any matter wandering within its gargantuan gravitational pull.

The black hole - called Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A* - is only the second one ever to be imaged. The feat was accomplished by the same Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) international collaboration that in 2019 unveiled the first-ever photo of a black hole - that one residing at the heart of a different galaxy.

I look forward to watching some stuff about this as the last time I read up on it it was a lot harder to observe our own Black hole.

I presume the black hole swallowed up the picture you were meant to share with your post?

Preezy wrote:I presume the black hole swallowed up the picture you were meant to share with your post?

EDIT: Looks like a blurry photo of one of the X from Metroid.

Only joking!

gooseberry fool pic, it's all blurry

Tomous wrote:gooseberry fool pic, it's all blurry

Some moisture on the lens.

Xeno wrote:https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/black-hole-scientists-announce-groundbreaking-milky-way-galaxy-discovery-2022-05-12/

Scientists on Thursday provided the first look at what they called the "gentle giant" lurking at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, unveiling an image of a supermassive black hole that devours any matter wandering within its gargantuan gravitational pull.

The black hole - called Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A* - is only the second one ever to be imaged. The feat was accomplished by the same Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) international collaboration that in 2019 unveiled the first-ever photo of a black hole - that one residing at the heart of a different galaxy.

I look forward to watching some stuff about this as the last time I read up on it it was a lot harder to observe our own Black hole.

You can use a mirror for that

Kezzer wrote:

Xeno wrote:https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/black-hole-scientists-announce-groundbreaking-milky-way-galaxy-discovery-2022-05-12/

Scientists on Thursday provided the first look at what they called the "gentle giant" lurking at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, unveiling an image of a supermassive black hole that devours any matter wandering within its gargantuan gravitational pull.

The black hole - called Sagittarius A*, or Sgr A* - is only the second one ever to be imaged. The feat was accomplished by the same Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) international collaboration that in 2019 unveiled the first-ever photo of a black hole - that one residing at the heart of a different galaxy.

I look forward to watching some stuff about this as the last time I read up on it it was a lot harder to observe our own Black hole.

You can use a mirror for that

I was tempted to us the joke when I first posted.

James Webb Space Telescope hit by tiny meteorite

A tiny rock fragment has hit the new James Webb Space Telescope's main mirror.

The damage inflicted by the dust-sized micrometeoroid is producing a noticeable effect in the observatory's data but is not expected to limit the mission's overall performance.

(...)

Astronomers are due to release its first views of the cosmos on 12 July.

The US space agency Nasa said these images would be no less stunning because of what's just happened.

(...)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-61744257

Bugger!

7 billion years bad luck

Kinetic energy shields when?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-62707359

The American space agency is counting down to the lift-off of its giant new Moon rocket - the Space Launch System.

SLS is the most powerful vehicle ever developed by Nasa, and will be the foundation of its Artemis project which aims to put people back on the lunar surface after a 50-year absence.

The rocket is timed to go up from the Kennedy Space Centre at 08:33 local time (12:33 GMT; 13:33 BST) on Monday.

Its job will be to propel a test capsule, called Orion, far from Earth.

This spacecraft will loop around the Moon on a big arc before returning home to a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean in six weeks' time.

Going to watch the launch with the volume up LOUD

Preezy wrote:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-62707359

The American space agency is counting down to the lift-off of its giant new Moon rocket - the Space Launch System.

SLS is the most powerful vehicle ever developed by Nasa, and will be the foundation of its Artemis project which aims to put people back on the lunar surface after a 50-year absence.

The rocket is timed to go up from the Kennedy Space Centre at 08:33 local time (12:33 GMT; 13:33 BST) on Monday.

Its job will be to propel a test capsule, called Orion, far from Earth.

This spacecraft will loop around the Moon on a big arc before returning home to a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean in six weeks' time.

Going to watch the launch with the volume up LOUD

How exciting! Actual preparations to go to the moon.