James Webb Space Telescope – Are They Pictures Or Images?

Science James Webb Space Telescope – Are They Pictures Or Images? Marshall Shepherd Senior Contributor Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own. New! Follow this author to improve your content experience. Got it! Jul 14, 2022, 08:53am EDT | Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin It is likely that you have witnessed the amazing capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) by now.

This scientific and technical marvel means as much to humanity as it is does to the scientific community. Judging by the people talking about the telescope, it is clear to me that this is one of those scientific moments that transcends race, class, borders and cultural marinades. I am a weather and climate scientist but spent a significant portion of my career at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

During that time, I interacted with experts associated with the Hubble Space Telescope and JWST. Many people have talked about the awesome “pictures” from JWST. Technically, they are images.

Let me explain. IN SPACE – JULY 12: In this handout photo provided by NASA, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope . .

. [+] reveals Stephans Quintet, a visual grouping of five galaxies, in a new light on July 12, 2022 in space. This enormous mosaic is Webb’s largest image to date, covering about one-fifth of the Moons diameter.

It contains over 150 million pixels and is constructed from almost 1,000 separate image files. The information from Webb provides new insights into how galactic interactions may have driven galaxy evolution in the early universe. (Photo by NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI via Getty Images) Getty Images Honestly, in the grand scheme of things, I really does not matter what you call them.

It is more important that we appreciate the meaningfulness of this scientific wonder. I tweeted earlier in the week that the products from JWST are not just about pretty images, and encouraged fellow scientists to provide “so what” when they share them. By doing so, we counter the narrow perspectives out there that ask, “why are we spending all of this money to take pretty pictures of space?” My previous Forbes piece lays out why JWST matters to all of us.

As an educator with a public platform, I often try to share information that you might not think about. For example, most people have a misunderstanding of what “percent chance of rain means” (explanation here ) or think heat lightning is a thing ( It’s not ). As I shared with a friend recently that NASA refers to what you see as images when she posted about the “pictures.

” I also realized that a teachable moment had reared its head. Pichalab. com published a 2022 essay entitled, “Whats the difference between a photo, picture, and an image? According to the essay, “In simple words, the difference between a photo (short for photograph) and a picture is if it’s taken by the camera it’s a photo.

A picture on the other hand can be a photo as well but be also a drawing or a painting. ” The term image, according to the essay, has broader meaning. The essay goes on to say, “An image is an optical counterpart or appearance of an object, as is produced by reflection from a mirror, refraction by a lens, or the passage of luminous rays through a small aperture and their reception on a surface.

” By the way, a saved photo file on your computer is an image. JULY 10: Hurricane Dennis is seen in this handout infrared satellite image provided by NOAA July . .

. [+] 10, 2005 over the US Gulf Coast. Dennis is now a Category 3 storm with winds around 120 MPH.

The eye wall made landfall 20 miles east of Pensacola, Florida. (Photo by NOAA via Getty Images) Getty Images MORE FROM FORBES VETTED Hop On These Back-To-School Prime Day Deals Before They Expire By Jason R. Rich Forbes Staff The Bestselling Nanit Pro Smart Baby Monitor Is $90 Off For Prime Day By Lex Goodman Contributor Computerhope.

com defines an image as, “Any visual object that’s modified or altered by a computer or an imaginary object created using a computer. ” Ethan Siegel masterfully explains, in a Big Think essay , the image processing behind the first images released this week by NASA. To follow along with his explanation of the JWST, it is important to understand that the image processing for this space telescope is fundamentally rooted in the electromagnetic spectrum.

According to NASA’s website , “Electromagnetic energy travels in waves and spans a broad spectrum from very long radio waves to very short gamma rays. ” We see with our eyes using the visible (optical) portion of this electromagnetic spectrum. ” The Hubble Space Telescope operates primarily in the optical and ultraviolet portions of the spectrum whereas JWST uses the infrared portion of the spectrum.

The NASA JWST website explains that the infrared region is useful because, “In particular, more distant objects are more highly redshifted, and their light is pushed from the UV and optical into the near-infrared. . .

. observations of these distant objects (like the first galaxies formed in the Universe, for example) requires an infrared telescope. ” A key point here is that JWST is a complementary to Hubble rather than a “replacement,” as NASA routinely reminds us.

Even within my field of meteorology, we use satellite imagery that exploits aspects of the electromagnetic spectrum to monitor hurricanes, tornadic storms, and other weather phenomena. We always refer to those products as images too, even though I have certainly heard people refer to them as pictures. As we can see on this graphics, our eyes can only detect a very tiny part of the electromagnetic .

. . [+] spectrum, called visible light.

This means that there is a great deal happening around us that we cannot detect without instruments. Electromagnetic radiations from space are unable to reach the surface of the Earth except at a very few wavelengths, such as the visible spectrum, radio frequencies, and some ultraviolet wavelengths. space agencies, like ESA, have to get their various observatories above Earth’s atmosphere to observe the universe according to the specific science objectives.

Herschel and Planck will be the only space observatories to cover a spectral range from the far infrared to sub-millimetre. (Photo by API/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images) Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images Follow me on Twitter . Check out my website .

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