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NASA’s Webb takes star-filled portrait of Pillars of Creation

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101–110 of 196 posts

Re: NASA’s Webb takes star-filled portrait of Pillars of Creation

#101
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Technically the comparison is not totally fair, that Hubble image was taken in visible light, while Webb's in infrared. Dust blocks visible light stronger, so background stars are effectively hidden from Hubble, but not from Webb. Here [1] you can see same field in visible and close infrared taken by Hubble. Webb of course shines in all the fine details and faint stars number. [1] https://cdn.spacetelescope.org/archi…

Now I am intrigued, the infrared image from Hubble seems to be able to see through even more clouds than JWST! What gives?

The JWST and Hubble have multiple cameras. The Hubble IR image is likely just the IR camera while the JWST is likely a composite of multiple cameras.

(This is purely speculation.)

Re: NASA’s Webb takes star-filled portrait of Pillars of Creation

#102
post #75
post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I understand it, they aren't exactly lens artifacts, they're stars in the foreground. The telescope can't see past them and we don't know what's there. To me, it would defeat the observational mission of the JWST to fill it in with some pixels that were similar to the rest of the background. However, I also think you raise a good point, since all these images are constructed from non-visible infra-red light and ma…

They're not talking about the stars, but the hexagonal spikes sticking out of the stars. Those are artifacts of the hexagonal lenses that the telescope uses.

No, the hexagonal spikes are artifacts of the arms holding the secondary mirror in place.

Re: NASA’s Webb takes star-filled portrait of Pillars of Creation

#103
post #96

Is there a way to search it for repeating patterns to catch any shortcuts the Simulation may have taken?

I know we're joking but, on a smaller scale...Periodic structures in crystals or beehives (for examples) would be shortcut of the simulation or just manifestations of underlying laws?

Re: NASA’s Webb takes star-filled portrait of Pillars of Creation

#104
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Handy Dandy Slider action between the two! https://esawebb.org/images/comparisons/weic2216/

The fact that the tiniest features of the cloud appear preserved between the two images gives an appreciation for how big it is. The two photos are taken 27 years apart

I'm more surprised by how much change there is. All the bluish stars in the JWT version are also in the Hubble version, but none of the yellowish. Is that parallax movement or are they obscured by the medium mentioned in the article? ("no galaxies")

Re: NASA’s Webb takes star-filled portrait of Pillars of Creation

#105
post #96

Is there a way to search it for repeating patterns to catch any shortcuts the Simulation may have taken?

Shortcuts are expensive. Rather have simple set of rules and just apply it to everything.

While grabbing the popcorn and see where simulation goes by itself of course.

Re: NASA’s Webb takes star-filled portrait of Pillars of Creation

#106
post #104
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that the tiniest features of the cloud appear preserved between the two images gives an appreciation for how big it is. The two photos are taken 27 years apart

I'm more surprised by how much change there is. All the bluish stars in the JWT version are also in the Hubble version, but none of the yellowish. Is that parallax movement or are they obscured by the medium mentioned in the article? ("no galaxies")

That's dust. JWST uses infra-red because it can see through dust.

Re: NASA’s Webb takes star-filled portrait of Pillars of Creation

#107
post #95
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Webb observes "much further" into the IR [1]. 1. https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/hu... (this image is from [2]) 2. https://www.nasa.gov/content/goddard/hubble-vs-webb-on-the-s...

Does this mean what Hubble sees is actually closer to what I'd see with my own eyes than Hubble, or Hubble's version is closer?

Not really. These scientific images are pretty much always remappings of arbitrary frequencies into RGB.

Re: NASA’s Webb takes star-filled portrait of Pillars of Creation

#108
post #19

When I go outside I can barely see any stars, unlike my ancestors who saw a sky utterly filled with stars. Then I go on my computer and I can see more stars, with more details, than my ancestors even imagined. I can't decide if it's a worthwhile tradeoff.

Frankly, viewing them via computer rather than up in the night sky is not a worthwhile comparison. Go to some dark sky area up in the mountains or in a desert canyon somewhere and look up. Yeah, you won't see as many stars but who cares. When you see the Milky Way so bright it appears three-dimensional, if you aren't overcome with a sense of absolute awe and are not humbled by what you are seeing, you aren't alive.

Re: NASA’s Webb takes star-filled portrait of Pillars of Creation

#109
post #104
post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The fact that the tiniest features of the cloud appear preserved between the two images gives an appreciation for how big it is. The two photos are taken 27 years apart

I'm more surprised by how much change there is. All the bluish stars in the JWT version are also in the Hubble version, but none of the yellowish. Is that parallax movement or are they obscured by the medium mentioned in the article? ("no galaxies")

The bluest ones in the JWST images are the higest frequency (shortest wavelength) it can see. These are the longest frequencies hubble can see, so they look reddish.

Anything in JWST that is lower frequency (yellow to red) will not be visible to Hubble

Re: NASA’s Webb takes star-filled portrait of Pillars of Creation

#110
I compressed the full PNG via Guetzli (Google's high-quality jpg compressor) which took a couple of hours (now 15MB at 84% quality), so here it is:

https://github.com/dvasdekis/images/raw/master/pillars.jpg and https://mega.nz/file/BTdWSb6b#NHK9lAtGMIr1UxabLiC174ZvJWo7KS... and https://www.mediafire.com/file/n0qjxogsp203z0w/pillars.jpg/f...

The original crashed Windows when set as desktop background, but this one works.

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