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James Webb first images – complete set of high resolution shots now live

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Re: James Webb first images – complete set of high resolution shots now live

#251

Post by idiotsecant »

prometheus76 wrote: post #191
idiotsecant wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing matters. You live for a while and then you die, but it sure can be a cool trip getting there!

Do you feel that way about your family members? Your spouse? Your children? They don't matter?

It's important to differentiate between things that matter to my emotional well being and things that matter in a universal sense. Plenty of things matter to my personal monkeybrain - I want to have a stockpile of nutritious, calorie dense foods. I want to feel free of danger from predators and natural hazards, I want members of my tribe to prosper and multiply, etc. All those things might as well be noise on the universal scale.

Re: James Webb first images – complete set of high resolution shots now live

#253

Post by ceejayoz »

april_22 wrote: post #184
throwaway09223 wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, there's none of that. These pictures aren't being used for any kind of science. They're 100% PR pieces, made to look pretty - which is fine!

Which makes me wonder how all these galaxies and nebulas would look like in real life. Would they look similar to how they colored it? Are those images maybe potraying a completely wrong reality?

Depends quite a lot on how you look.

If you use an optical telescope to look at the Orion Nebula, you'll see it, but it'll appear pretty much grey. (No scope and it'll be what looks like a bright star, with perhaps a little bit of a blobby nature.) Hook a standard SLR camera up to the telescope and do a long exposure, though, and the reds and blues become readily apparent.

Here's one I took with a standard camera and a 6" scope: https://www.instagram.com/p/CMtHMicBwvI/

Re: James Webb first images – complete set of high resolution shots now live

#254

Post by ncmncm »

_moof wrote: post #193
noneeeed wrote: post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

One of my favourite concepts from Douglas Adams was the Total Perspective Vortex, a form of punishment that would drive the victim insane by showing them the entire totality of existence and their place in it.

Didn't work on Zaphod though. He just ate the cake.

The simulated cake. It was in a universe simulation created for him.

Re: James Webb first images – complete set of high resolution shots now live

#255

Post by wthomp »

dguest wrote: post #159
vishnugupta wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The person seen photoshopping very briefly talked about how he picks different colours for different region/light-frequency. But yes, more details will definitely be helpful. Also I guess they could open-source the untouched photos for other artists and photoshop experts to play around?

Everything will be public eventually. There's a bit on the data policy on wikipedia [1] but basically the operations costs are funded (in part) by people paying for telescope time. The project that is currently paying for the telescope gets exclusive access for a 1 year "embargo" period, after which the data becomes public. [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope#Gro...

Small correction, no one will be able to pay for time on JWST. But if you put in a proposal for time and it's accepted, they will pay you. That's to make sure there is sufficient funds available to properly make use of the data you proposed for.

Re: James Webb first images – complete set of high resolution shots now live

#256

Post by mden »

saiya-jin wrote: post #84
slfnflctd wrote: post #59

The exoplanet analysis is what I'm most intrigued by. They're getting much more data than in the past on these. Of course they went for an easy gas giant target first (it has lots of water, which is great), but those Earth-like planets in the Goldilocks zone are gonna be some of the most exciting stuff that comes out of this. Looking forward to it.

1150 light years away! Imagine how much more details can be detected for stuff within 50 light years. Really, they should be already building 2nd James Webb. I am sure even 10 of them would get 100% utilization for their whole lifetime. I can only imagine what kind of needless political game is happening around prioritization of time slots for it. Or start working on next-gen, bigger, more resilient etc. It costs pea…

The next NASA space telescope is The Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope - https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/the-nancy-grace-roman-spac....

Re: James Webb first images – complete set of high resolution shots now live

#257

Post by sbierwagen »

j0e1 wrote: post #234
chaps wrote: post #64

Direct links -- Stephan's Quintet (NIRCam and MIRI Composite Image): https://stsci-opo.org/STScI-01G7DB1FHPMJCCY59CQGZC1YJQ.png Southern Ring Nebula (NIRCam and MIRI Images Side by Side): https://stsci-opo.org/STScI-01G79R28V7S4AXDN8NG5QCPGE3.png “Cosmic Cliffs” in the Carina Nebula (NIRCam Image): https://stsci-opo.org/STScI-01G7ETPF7DVBJAC42JR5N6EQRH.png Webb's First Deep Field (NIRCam Image): https://stsci-opo.org…

> “Cosmic Cliffs” in the Carina Nebula (NIRCam Image): > https://stsci-opo.org/STScI-01G7ETPF7DVBJAC42JR5N6EQRH.png Is this for real?! It looks like it came right out of a Sci-Fi movie/book. Could anyone explain how much of this is post-editing magic?

Image stacking to remove noise and optical artifacts, careful use of color filters to enhance contrast and pull out detail. The press release says it used Red: F444W, Orange: F335M, Yellow: F470N, Green: F200W, Cyan: F187N, Blue: F090W. The N filters are narrowband. F470N is only 54 nanometers wide: https://jwst-docs.stsci.edu/jwst-near-infrared-camera/nircam...

Almost all the light in this image is way off the red end of the human visual spectrum, of course. The shortest wavelength filter is F090W which has a center wavelength of 902nm, about the same color as the light coming out of a TV remote infrared LED, which is barely visible in pure darkness.

This is what it looks like through a film SLR, without the detail enhancing filters: http://www.phys.ttu.edu/~ozprof/3372f.htm Here's a 20 minute exposure through a telescope: http://www.phys.ttu.edu/~ozprof/3372fk.jpg Maybe what you would see with your own eyes through binoculars at a dark site well away from city lights. A dim red smudge, hints of finer detail.

Re: James Webb first images – complete set of high resolution shots now live

#259

Post by pkaye »

vishnugupta wrote: post #127
whiteboardr wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am aware. (And have been eagerly waiting for this moment for ages) It just seems “unscientific” to just use Photoshop and above all curious about the set of rules and algorithms, that enables them to decide which hue to pick for which region, levels, etc.

The person seen photoshopping very briefly talked about how he picks different colours for different region/light-frequency. But yes, more details will definitely be helpful. Also I guess they could open-source the untouched photos for other artists and photoshop experts to play around?

All the untouched images will be available in the MAST archives which is where the Hubble data is also available. (https://archive.stsci.edu/)

Re: James Webb first images – complete set of high resolution shots now live

#260

Post by The5thElephant »

j0e1 wrote: post #234
chaps wrote: post #64

Direct links -- Stephan's Quintet (NIRCam and MIRI Composite Image): https://stsci-opo.org/STScI-01G7DB1FHPMJCCY59CQGZC1YJQ.png Southern Ring Nebula (NIRCam and MIRI Images Side by Side): https://stsci-opo.org/STScI-01G79R28V7S4AXDN8NG5QCPGE3.png “Cosmic Cliffs” in the Carina Nebula (NIRCam Image): https://stsci-opo.org/STScI-01G7ETPF7DVBJAC42JR5N6EQRH.png Webb's First Deep Field (NIRCam Image): https://stsci-opo.org…

> “Cosmic Cliffs” in the Carina Nebula (NIRCam Image): > https://stsci-opo.org/STScI-01G7ETPF7DVBJAC42JR5N6EQRH.png Is this for real?! It looks like it came right out of a Sci-Fi movie/book. Could anyone explain how much of this is post-editing magic?

It's all real, but you would not be able to see it with your bare eyes even if you were relatively close to the nebula. The world around us would look very different if our eyes could perceive more of the infrared and ultraviolet spectrum.

The coloring is usually done to indicate different temperatures or wavelengths detected, so it can be a bit misleading.

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