Everyone ought to have a Hubble Space Telescope
Dec 23, 2020 00:25:53 #
Reuss Griffiths
Loc: Ravenna, Ohio
JimH123 wrote:
Here is a picture of a Hubble Sensor duplicate. I... (show quote)
I remember the "Oops" moment when they discovered the initial images from Hubble were out of focus due to lens design errors which managed to escape detection until after launch and the program to fit the telescope with "contacts" to fix the focus issues. I don't know if they've ever replaced the original sensor with a larger one, but given that they have no atmosphere to deal with and the ability to focus on extremely small sections of space for hours/days long exposures and then couple that with current state of the art computer technology, I'd guess that Hubble will be useful far beyond it's expected life time. I've no idea how dithering and stacking impact the long exposures they are capable of making. Maybe they can do both or will be able to in the foreseeable future. It is and has been exciting to watch happen. Sadly my wife uses the term "dithering" to describe me too.
Dec 23, 2020 09:37:44 #
Interestingly, I believe the sensor is monochrome. They either use filters or do false coloring of the images. Lots of people here knock the government without knowing anything about the constraints placed on workers. I was surprised no one said this about the Hubble's original problem. But this was on the great private sector which made the mirror. They made the most perfect mirror (surface wise) ever made, but made to the wrong specs due to a spacer in the text equipment. Other tests showed the mirror to be defectively, but they ignored the tests. I have said for years that no amateur mirror maker would have made the same mistake.
Dec 23, 2020 14:45:12 #
“Shutter Speed” is a rather interesting mind bender, in that a whole lot of the subjects had already vanished long before the Hubble photographed them." Ninety percent never realize the universal time frame when observing the heavens. Which leads one to wonder, have astronomers kept track of what as disappeared in the last hundred years! I know, a hundred years in the grand scheme is but blink!!!
Dec 23, 2020 16:17:45 #
Space is huge, but if EVERYONE had their own Hubble, traffic management might be a real problem. Talk about photobombs!
JK
Happy Holidays!
JK
Happy Holidays!
Dec 23, 2020 17:59:48 #
Dec 23, 2020 19:09:03 #
Time does apply to the sun, where changes over reasonable periods and some planets. Jupiter, much, much larger than the earth, rotates so fast that stacking images even over a few hours caused difficulties.
Dec 24, 2020 01:17:11 #
Reuss Griffiths
Loc: Ravenna, Ohio
A lot of the comments here are regarding the vastness of space and time. Large numbers are difficult for most of us to comprehend. Perhaps the following will help appreciate just how big some of these numbers are. The following is what happens if you compress the age of the universe down to a calendar year.
The Age of the Universe in a Year
Universe is 13.8 billion years old = 1 calendar year
Big Bang occurs in first second after midnite on January 1st.
99% of all matter forms in the first minute.
Milky Way galaxy forms on January 2nd and rotates about 50 times until;
Our Sun forms in early August then Earth forms around August 8th and 10 days later life begins (4 billion yrs)
First animal crawls out of the ocean on November 18 (500 million yrs)
The dinosaurs die out on December 30 around 8 AM after meteorite strikes the Yucatan penninsula. (65 mill yrs)
First humans start walking around at 10:41 PM on New Years eve. (2 mill yrs)
Recorded history occupies the last 15 seconds of the year
Christ is born at 11:59:55 PM on December 31.
Merry Christmas
The Age of the Universe in a Year
Universe is 13.8 billion years old = 1 calendar year
Big Bang occurs in first second after midnite on January 1st.
99% of all matter forms in the first minute.
Milky Way galaxy forms on January 2nd and rotates about 50 times until;
Our Sun forms in early August then Earth forms around August 8th and 10 days later life begins (4 billion yrs)
First animal crawls out of the ocean on November 18 (500 million yrs)
The dinosaurs die out on December 30 around 8 AM after meteorite strikes the Yucatan penninsula. (65 mill yrs)
First humans start walking around at 10:41 PM on New Years eve. (2 mill yrs)
Recorded history occupies the last 15 seconds of the year
Christ is born at 11:59:55 PM on December 31.
Merry Christmas
Dec 24, 2020 17:42:21 #
Don Schaeffer
Loc: Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada
Microscopes are a lot cheaper and more accessible. The wonders are equal.
Dec 24, 2020 17:48:30 #
Reuss Griffiths
Loc: Ravenna, Ohio
Don Schaeffer wrote:
Microscopes are a lot cheaper and more accessible. The wonders are equal.
Speaking of large numbers and microscopes, discounting evaporation for simplicity, if you added 1.5 million molecules of water to a tablespoon every second, how long would it take to fill the tablespoon?
Dec 24, 2020 18:12:00 #
Dec 24, 2020 18:50:48 #
Reuss Griffiths
Loc: Ravenna, Ohio
Don Schaeffer wrote:
I have no idea. How long?
I already mentioned it. Actually 2 answers, theoretical and real. The theorectical answer is the age of the universe ~ 14 billion yrs. The real answers is never as the earth and everything on it will be consumed by our sun in about 5 billion yrs. The math: a tablespoon holds about 15 grams which is just about the weight of a mole of water, 18 grams. A mole of anything is 6.02 x 10 to the 23 power molecules (as you can see that's a really really big number). This is a good example that shows how small atoms/molecules really are and how big and vast our universe truly is.
Dec 24, 2020 18:54:34 #
Reuss Griffiths wrote:
A lot of the comments here are regarding the vastn... (show quote)
In 1977, Charles Eames made a film about the scale of things from the entire universe down to a proton. Interesting to see the alternation of things passing you by and empty space as you look at larger and larger scales (and also smaller and smaller scales).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0
I believe there is another version made more recently. It is left as an exercise to the viewer to find it.
Dec 24, 2020 19:13:54 #
Dec 24, 2020 19:28:34 #
Reuss Griffiths
Loc: Ravenna, Ohio
The first time I saw the age of the universe in a calendar year was on the original Cosmos series with Carl Sagan circa 1980. Was an hour show.
Dec 24, 2020 19:30:25 #
Reuss Griffiths wrote:
A lot of the comments here are regarding the vastn... (show quote)
Very good. thank you
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