Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What is Webb observing now?

spacetelescopelive.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 76 posts

Re: What is Webb observing now?

#11

Post by thriftwy »

system2 wrote: post #10
gigatexal wrote: post #2

This is so very, very cool. I did hear some horrible news. Seems the funding for the next-gen (or even current maintainence of) Chandra-X ray observatory (space based telescope) won't get approved which is a huge shame. Maybe politicians could be persuaded by sites like these and greater awareness campaigns to not lose such a worthwhile instrument for science. And if it does is there an international equivalent maybe…

Politics and religion slowed down our space exploration by many thousands of years.

I... Don't think so?

Soviet Union as a materially poor country will not pour so much money into exploring space if it wasn't so important politically at the moment.

The US was much wealthier, but also skipped space spendings the first moment politics no longer persuaded space exploration.

Stuff like GPS and especially Glonass were also borne out of political goals. Same for ISS.

If anything, the only way we may get to explore solar system is via political push.

Re: What is Webb observing now?

#12

Post by syadegari »

+1!! This may sound weird, but I can use this as a mood booster when life gets tough. Side note: I might be biased because I also find it useful to think about the vastness space to trick my brain falling asleep (I watch a lot of video astronomy videos).

Re: What is Webb observing now?

#14

Post by jazzsouff »

system2 wrote: post #10
gigatexal wrote: post #2

This is so very, very cool. I did hear some horrible news. Seems the funding for the next-gen (or even current maintainence of) Chandra-X ray observatory (space based telescope) won't get approved which is a huge shame. Maybe politicians could be persuaded by sites like these and greater awareness campaigns to not lose such a worthwhile instrument for science. And if it does is there an international equivalent maybe…

Politics and religion slowed down our space exploration by many thousands of years.

The post WW2 cold war is what pushed our understanding of space. So actually modern politics helped with that.

Re: What is Webb observing now?

#15

Post by Fremololni »

thriftwy wrote: post #11
system2 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Politics and religion slowed down our space exploration by many thousands of years.

I... Don't think so? Soviet Union as a materially poor country will not pour so much money into exploring space if it wasn't so important politically at the moment. The US was much wealthier, but also skipped space spendings the first moment politics no longer persuaded space exploration. Stuff like GPS and especially Glonass were also borne out of political goals. Same for ISS. If anything, the only way we may get t…

NASA asks for money and politicians say no.

Re: What is Webb observing now?

#16

Post by Cthulhu_ »

syadegari wrote: post #13

Does someone know why the bright stars in the image do not show the hexagonal pattern that is present in published images of Webb?

I presume it's not a live view of what Webb is seeing but existing images / visualisations from other sources pointing in the same direction Webb is right now.

Re: What is Webb observing now?

#17

Post by Cthulhu_ »

jazzsouff wrote: post #14
system2 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Politics and religion slowed down our space exploration by many thousands of years.

The post WW2 cold war is what pushed our understanding of space. So actually modern politics helped with that.

But once the space race to the moon was won - and all major powers had proven they are capable of producing ICBMs - it feels like the energy and financing just went out of it. There's no more political or military gain to be had from space exploration so governments only put in a token amount, and there's only limited commercial gain from e.g. telecom, mapping and navigation, but that's all focused on earth itself.

There's no major financial incentive go to the moon or mars, other than would-be space tourists or colonists that are willing and able to pay for their own trip.

The only way spacefaring could be commercialised is with asteroid mining, and that's a long way away still. The eye-popping "this asteroid could be worth a hundred trillian dollars!!1" kind of headlines are sensationalised to attract investors to fund exploration missions to figure out if the theory matches the practice, but even if it was worth that amount, getting any material back to Earth is currently cost- and engineering-prohibitive. It may become viable in our lifetime, for example if they can get a Starship sized craft there, fill the hold with titanium and return all of it to Earth, but that's a long way away still.

Re: What is Webb observing now?

#19

Post by Cthulhu_ »

alex_suzuki wrote: post #8

This is amazing. Anyone know if they have some kind of API access for the feed?

There is https://github.com/avatsaev/webb-tracker-api which says it gets its info from https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/whereIsWebb.htm...; not sure if it's a content scraper or if there's an API there as well.

Re: What is Webb observing now?

#20

Post by hunter-gatherer »

Fremololni wrote: post #15
thriftwy wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I... Don't think so? Soviet Union as a materially poor country will not pour so much money into exploring space if it wasn't so important politically at the moment. The US was much wealthier, but also skipped space spendings the first moment politics no longer persuaded space exploration. Stuff like GPS and especially Glonass were also borne out of political goals. Same for ISS. If anything, the only way we may get t…

NASA asks for money and politicians say no.

NASA often asks for money and politicians say yes.
Post reply on HN