JCC The All-New, All-Different JCC Astronomy Thread

Everything has meaning, no photo was taken just for the cool visuals. But the cool visuals help too. They are inspiring and motivational for millions of people. I teach Astronomy for a living, and within the past 2 weeks the questions and messages from my students about the JWST show me that a few of those might be motivated to pursue a career in science and/or Physics/Astronomy. This is very important, and we need a lot more of this as a society.

I agree with the general idea, and it will be happening. The JWST will be used for a ton of measurements and observations that have to do with Exoplanet Science in the next 10 years, be sure of that. But it will also be used for a lot of infrared spectroscopy that might reveal stuff we don't even know about yet. Brown dwarves were only discovered in 1991 and no one knew they even existed beforehand. The Hubble telescope gave us the deepest images we had ever seen before. JWST has gone even deeper already, and it will definitely see some things that we did not expect or could not predict.

Also, when it comes to deep views of our universe, the JWST could shed some light to fundamental problems that we have about this physical reality, such as dark matter and dark energy, so it would be a shame if we didn't use it both for relatively close observations, but also for as far as possible observations.

This will not happen with any telescope
The orders of magnitude of space and time in the observations we can perform make it simply impossible.
Unless somehow we discover advanced alien life within our solar system. Highly unlikely.

 

This was a more whimsical statement then literal.

But I hold that I hope with enough clarity we can glimpse something in the vastness that cannot be explained except by a deliberate will to counter nature.

I remember reading something decades ago about the best way to find other life in the galaxy would be to create a device large enough to block a good portion of the sun (I don't remember the numbers, but I know it wasn't the whole thing). Then you just move it in a specific pattern, so that if anyone is looking from lightyears away, far in the future, they will see a star that is doing something no natural star would be doing.

I would love to see a headline that says "Distant Star Blinks in Numerical Pattern: Alien Life Suspected!"

 

Which is basically a fringe argument about Tabby's Star and that it's some sort of thing like that.

 

Not all stars have planets

In fact in the early universe it was impossible for planets to form.

 

Well, TIL that someone actually bothers to use those figures. Good to know.

 

Maybe there is sound in space, after all.

 

That’s been a misconception for a long time. It’s related to the misconception that space is totally empty/ a pure vacuum.


Inviato dal mio iPhone utilizzando Tapatalk

 

These youtube shorts don't post

Anyway, here is Dr Becky talking about bad headlines concerning the JWST and the Big Bang.

 

More details about the JWST and the Big bang

I subtle distinction about red shift and motion.

 

JWST takes its first direct exoplanet picture

The star is 385 light years away.

 

Looking good Neptune, looking good

 

We're no longer just observing celestial objects. We're messing with them!

 

It has inspired me to study the 1908 Tunguska blast.

General Veers, prepare your troops for a surface attack.

 

I've been observing this

Astronomers say they found what may be the most powerful explosion ever

 

What time is the Blood Moon total lunar eclipse on Nov. 8? | Space

About 3-5 AM here. Weather forecast says it will be clear, so it might be worth checking out.

 

A slightly less sleep depriving 4-6am here. Probably going to set an alarm for 4:45am to watch totality. Conditions are looking ideal.

 

Perfect conditions for viewing. About 40% right now.

 

Enjoy

 

It was quite a display. Now to catch the colors of the sunrise.

 

I slept through it.