Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa • Hacker News Board

Re: Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa

#31

Post by dwaltrip » Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 10:32 PM UTC

sephamorr wrote: post #25

jessriedel wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The science output of a given device usually shows heavily diminishing returns. I would say 12 Hubbles would have had at most twice the impact of 1 Hubble, probably less.

Definitely agree. However, the long tail will likely include discovering some more 'improbably' results. For example, the researchers who ultimately discovered Phosphine on Venus this week had early requests for observation time on telescopes denied and seemed to have to have been extremely persistent to finally get their chance.

There is definitely a very long, fat tail with scientific research. I think this one of the most under-appreciated aspects of science.

That and the countless unexpected insights and connections between seemingly unrelated pieces of knowledge that can happen long after an initial discovery.

Re: Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa

#32

Post by jniedrauer » Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 10:37 PM UTC

jessriedel wrote: post #21

java-man wrote: post #3

For one Hubble, something like a dozen of Keyhole spy telescopes have been launched [0]. Just imagine the kind of science we would have gotten if we launched a dozen of Hubbles instead... [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-11_Kennen

The science output of a given device usually shows heavily diminishing returns. I would say 12 Hubbles would have had at most twice the impact of 1 Hubble, probably less.

The famous "deep field" image from Hubble almost didn't happen, at least for many more years, due to limited time availability[0].

> “The telescope allocation committee would never have approved such a long, risky project,”

Other similar "high risk" experiments would be more likely to occur if time constraints were not such a concern.

[0]: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2015/04...

Re: Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa

#33

Post by sq_ » Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 10:38 PM UTC

aaronblohowiak wrote: post #24

commonturtle wrote: post #9

Man, I'd love to be able to get a really high resolution print of this framed so I can hang it in my living room.

Your tax dollars at work: https://hubblesite.org/contents/media/images/2020/42/4739-Im...

I always wish that it was a little easier to find the pages with high resolution downloads of all these amazing NASA telescope and rover images.

It'd be great if they could create one central repository that all of them would go to for people to look through.

Re: Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa

#34

Post by rement » Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 10:42 PM UTC

filearts wrote: post #4

I would love to see an image like that combined with a depth map to allow us to move it around and get a sense of the vertical scale of those storms!

Here is an image of Earth compared to the biggest storm on Jupiter [1] (from 2006). Jupiter is big.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Red_Spot#/media/File:Jup...

Re: Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa

#35

Post by beamatronic » Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 10:51 PM UTC

java-man wrote: post #3

For one Hubble, something like a dozen of Keyhole spy telescopes have been launched [0]. Just imagine the kind of science we would have gotten if we launched a dozen of Hubbles instead... [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-11_Kennen

There’s so many high energy events out there, to observe.

Re: Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa

#36

Post by vibrolax » Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 10:56 PM UTC

RobertoG wrote: post #18

Yetanfou wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine if those satellites were never made, we wouldn't have had the Hubble space telescope either.

What that says about us, I'm not sure if I want to know.

Having large rockets to launch anything for non-military purposes is a byproduct of the requirement by the military of several nations for the capability to deliver thermonuclear warheads on their adversaries.

Re: Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa

#37

Post by Yetanfou » Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 10:56 PM UTC

RobertoG wrote: post #18

Yetanfou wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Imagine if those satellites were never made, we wouldn't have had the Hubble space telescope either.

What that says about us, I'm not sure if I want to know.

It says that we're part predators, part prey animals and as such are more interested in defending our territory and possibly gaining some new territory than we are in gazing at the skies for some purpose which neither the predator nor the prey would recognise. Hard science is a new thing in evolutionary terms, the purpose for which those KH satellites were launched is as old as our species.

Re: Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa

#38

Post by ISL » Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 11:13 PM UTC

jniedrauer wrote: post #32

jessriedel wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The science output of a given device usually shows heavily diminishing returns. I would say 12 Hubbles would have had at most twice the impact of 1 Hubble, probably less.

The famous "deep field" image from Hubble almost didn't happen, at least for many more years, due to limited time availability[0]. > “The telescope allocation committee would never have approved such a long, risky project,” Other similar "high risk" experiments would be more likely to occur if time constraints were not such a concern. [0]: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2015/04...

Agreed. I suspect that the impact of added Hubbles would be roughly linear in the number of satellites for at least three or four more satellites.

The bigger question is whether the requisite resources could have a larger combined impact elsewhere by delivering similar advances in astrophysical missions, for which I suspect the answer was correctly judged to be "yes".

Re: Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa

#39

Post by snowwrestler » Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 11:22 PM UTC

java-man wrote: post #3

For one Hubble, something like a dozen of Keyhole spy telescopes have been launched [0]. Just imagine the kind of science we would have gotten if we launched a dozen of Hubbles instead... [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-11_Kennen

It's funny when you see people ask things like "if we ever pointed Hubble at Earth, how much detail could we see?"

Ask the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency!

Re: Hubble Captures Crisp New Image of Jupiter and Europa

#40

Post by melling » Thu, Sep 17, 2020, 11:27 PM UTC

jniedrauer wrote: post #32

jessriedel wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The science output of a given device usually shows heavily diminishing returns. I would say 12 Hubbles would have had at most twice the impact of 1 Hubble, probably less.

The famous "deep field" image from Hubble almost didn't happen, at least for many more years, due to limited time availability[0]. > “The telescope allocation committee would never have approved such a long, risky project,” Other similar "high risk" experiments would be more likely to occur if time constraints were not such a concern. [0]: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/phenomena/2015/04...

Hubble’s replacement, James Webb, could offer us an opportunity to have a second space telescope.

We just need to figure out how to repair the Hubble.