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

NASA to launch space observatory that will map 450M galaxies

nbcnews.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

81–90 of 134 posts

Re: NASA to launch space observatory that will map 450M galaxies

#81

Post by nine_k »

vkou wrote: post #73
IncreasePosts wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The complete specs of the arm may now belong to a hostile nation.

It's amazing how all it takes is a few threats of annexation, and for GOP thought-leaders like Ben Shapiro to start talking about enslaving you[1] to work on the Panama Canal to make another country rethink its relationship with you. Absolute animals. As is anyone else carrying water for these politics. There's no excuse for it. If you had anything at all to do with putting these clowns in power - reign them back in…

Sorry, "rein them in". Reign is about royal power; rein is about controlling a horse. And we definitely don't want any monarchs here.

Re: NASA to launch space observatory that will map 450M galaxies

#82

Post by tiborsaas »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #27

It always surprises me how my enthusiasm for scientific discovery is affected by fears of a dystopian future. My understanding is that with red shift calibration here we'll get a much better idea of the 'when' in terms of various galactic structures emerged, that might give us an interesting idea of where we are in the life-cycle of the Milky Way. But the observation of water signatures will be the most interesting t…

I can't really get what you meant by "dystopian future" in this context. In my understanding that is a human caused concept.

Re: NASA to launch space observatory that will map 450M galaxies

#84

Post by eleveriven »

ChuckMcM wrote: post #27

It always surprises me how my enthusiasm for scientific discovery is affected by fears of a dystopian future. My understanding is that with red shift calibration here we'll get a much better idea of the 'when' in terms of various galactic structures emerged, that might give us an interesting idea of where we are in the life-cycle of the Milky Way. But the observation of water signatures will be the most interesting t…

As for water detection, I'd imagine SPHEREx will be better suited for large-scale mapping rather than pinpointing water on specific planets

Re: NASA to launch space observatory that will map 450M galaxies

#85

Post by eleveriven »

metalman wrote: post #66

450M is somewhere between .1% and 0 % of the total number of galaxies in the observable universe, so I am laying claim to 50, galaxies, which is hopefully a full set of galaxie types, but with a little haggling and trading, buying and selling galaxies I can figure that out later. My Mom says as a child she sent away and got title to one sqare inch of the moon, but it was a much smaller universe then, especialy before…

Imagine the value after cosmic inflation kicks in

Re: NASA to launch space observatory that will map 450M galaxies

#86

Post by eleveriven »

shmageggy wrote: post #5

This is so cool, but I did not see a key piece of info in the article: does the ongoing operation of this mission fall under NASA's science budget and therefore at risk of cuts and defunding under Trump [1]? [1] https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/03/white-house-may-seek-t...

That's a good question. Given how frequently NASA's science budget gets caught in political crosswinds, it's definitely a concern

Re: NASA to launch space observatory that will map 450M galaxies

#87

Post by Tepix »

eleveriven wrote: post #83

It's pretty incredible to think that we're at a point in human history where we can map 450 million galaxies and probe the origins of the universe

The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) Legacy Imaging Survey has recorded more than one billion galaxies.

But there are many more galaxies in the observable universe … somewhere between 2 and 20 trillion

Re: NASA to launch space observatory that will map 450M galaxies

#89

Post by BHSPitMonkey »

apawloski wrote: post #80
d--b wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a SpaceX contract

The launch vehicle is SpaceX, but the science and mission operations are NASA/JPL.

And to add to that, DOGE has been known to cancel contracts where the money has already been paid (so we're effective paying for nothing); SpaceX already has what it needs from this contract and has nothing to lose by cancelling the mission now.
Post reply on HN