“Minkowski’s Butterfly”
Who new? Kidding aside, that’s a new nebulae/photo I had never seen before.
PS
And I did not realize Jupiter had rings, until now.
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There was a site on the outskirts of Houston I and a buddy would grab our gear and do a night of star gazing on. It was nothing more than a pasture with a bare concrete pad that the HAS (Houston Astronomical Society) either owned or used with the permission of the owner (can’t remember which, we never got cuffed by the police so it must have been legit!). We would set up telescopes, sometimes bring sleeping bags and make an overnight of if. It was a pleasant break from the pressure of being a grad student with a research program to complete just to admire the beauty of what we were studying.
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Excellent!
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That discovery belongs to the intrepid Voyager 1. Happy 45th anniversary Voyager 1 and 2! Well, OK, Voyager 2 just celebrated its 45th anniversary and 1 is two weeks to its 45th anniversary. Both still operational. Both are the first man-made objects to enter interstellar space (beyond the heliosphere). Both are a triumph to the human spirit of curiosity and ingenuity.
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It astounds me they have been operational so long,
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Not a James Webb photo, but one cannot help being gob smacked by the detail.
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Interestin’! Wonder what fraction of the dark matter this will turn out to be. Something vanishingly small, I assume.
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Another non-JWST/moonshot video - but a good’un nonetheless. Need something while we wait😝 He starts with some good stuff about how articles and papers get bent by YT/social media. He did a good separate one on debunking the JWST/Big Bang thing.
At any rate, I hadn’t realized that - again due to media hype - the significance of the Higgs boson got exaggerated, as it only explains the mass of the weak force, so around 1% of matter. This video talks about 99% of it.
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Too bad most of the internet junk is reposts of someone else’s work, taken wholly out of context or completely made up just to sell a few clicks or get a few likes.
Without noted references we have to be very careful of any internet audio, video or printed info. What a generally sad state of affairs the instant info world has degenerated into.
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Very true.
If only viewers/readers would take a few minutes to think about and question what they are seeing. It is typically obvious what is legitimate and what is biased/fabricated.
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Unfortunately common sense and research ethics seem to be an unteachable long lost cause.
Even as research oriented as I am I have been trapped a few times copying and pasting some bit of “news” only to realize later that I have been had.
I still remember working in the gas station as a kid and getting taken by a short change artist a couple of times. Same goes for internet news today.
The most common word I’ve seen in these JWST-related YT videos is “Terrifying”. Tells you a lot right there about the whole schmoz.
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Kinda makes you wonder what happened to good old fashioned journalism (if it ever really existed).
Anton is great, I enjoy his talks daily.
I like Dr. Becky too. Thanks to her recent Big Bang clarification/explanation, I may buy a second disc, Panic at the Disc.
Interesting excerpt from today’s Raleigh News and Observer and attributed to The Washington Post. The point about publishing in advance of peer review got my attention. I get it, but it sounds as though even the scientific community will be vetting theories in real time in public view. This could either be chaos or interesting insights into peer review - if you can keep up.
“Data from the new telescope is gushing forth, and she (Jeyhan Kartaltepe of the Rochester Institute of Technology) is among the legions of astronomers who are spinning out new papers, posting them quickly online in advance of peer review.
The Webb is seeing things no one has ever seen in such sharp detail and at such tremendous distances. Research teams across the planet are looking at publicly released data and racing to spot the most distant galaxies or make other remarkable discoveries. Science often proceeds at a stately pace, advancing knowledge incrementally, but the Webb is dumping truckloads of enticing data on scientists all at once.”
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I’m somewhat distressed by the impulse to pump out ‘papers’ prematurely sans peer review. I recognize there are those in the science community who want to be ‘first’ with reputations to make and grants to compete for. But the point of the plodding peer review process is to prevent junk science from corrupting true, verified, thoroughly reviewed and if necessary revised papers. I’ve done it the right way. Many others have as well. I’m loving the sheer beauty of the first images, but will not indulge those rushing to non peer reviewed, not properly published papers. Data volume has nothing to do with it. Integrity is everything. Ditto pseudo-science websites where I’m encountering a sea of crap on JWST and Artemis. Do yourselves a favor: stick to NASA, ESA and other sources of reliable, well vetted mission information. Oh and Go Artemis 1! KSC is in final prep. Last I checked all systems are green for launch, weather permitting.
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Wow. Just Wow.
As I read this sans readers, “cosmic scales” read “comic sales”. It amused me, thought I’d tell you.
Next 48 hours only!!! The Universe can be yours at a Factor of Ten OFF!!!
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