The Astronomy and Physics thread. And things of the like.

[PVarck31]

Re: The Astronomy and Physics thread. And things of the like.

At about 2PM tomorrow, the JWST will enter L2 and start it's orbit around the sun.

Should see the first pictures from it in June. So excited.

[PVarck31]

Re: The Astronomy and Physics thread. And things of the like.

The first light. Over 13 billion years ago. - JWST

[Bard]

Re: The Astronomy and Physics thread. And things of the like.

That's amazing. Truly breathtaking looking at that and seeing all the galaxies.

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[Kodii Rockets]

Re: The Astronomy and Physics thread. And things of the like.

The first light. Over 13 billion years ago. - JWST

Some additional fun facts...

-Everything seen in this image is between 4.6-13 billion light years away (a light year is approximately 32,700 human years), so we're looking back that far in time.
-The ones with the points are stars 'other suns' within our galaxy, no guess as to how many planets orbit them.
-Everything else in the picture is other galaxies
- In relation to the vast expanse of space, this image is the equivalent of looking at a speck of sand on your fingertip. Tiny little snapshot.

Absolutely mind blowing stuff.

[PVarck31]

Re: The Astronomy and Physics thread. And things of the like.

Here are some more beautiful pics. 1) Stephan's Quintet 2) Carina Nebula 3) Southern Ring Nebula.

[PVarck31]

Re: The Astronomy and Physics thread. And things of the like.

Most points of light in these pics are galaxies. As Kodii said, the bright points with the spikes (they actually do call them spikes) are nearby stars.

Also, in the first pic you can see gravitational lensing in the middle. The cluster of galaxies in that area are being pulled which causes space itself to bend. It creates it's own telescope so to speak, which lets us see things further and behind other objects by bending light itself. So amazing.

Gravitational Lensing was theorized by Einstein fitting with his theory of General Relativity. This was around 1912.

Also, the first picture took only 12.5 hours to take. The same picture, albeit a much closer version, would take weeks to gather all that light data by Hubble.

[PVarck31]

Re: The Astronomy and Physics thread. And things of the like.

And finally, a spectrographic look at the atmospheric composition of exoplanet WASP-96b. It shows a lot of water suggesting clouds and haze of H2O in gas form. This is a hot puffy gas giant planet orbiting a sun-like star. Nothing like any of our planets.

[Caulfield]

Re: The Astronomy and Physics thread. And things of the like.

The first light. Over 13 billion years ago. - JWST

my first thought was:
''it's not safe out here. it's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. it's not for the timid''

and not even to mention the first part of that quote:''if you can't take a little bloody nose maybe you ought go back home and crawl under your bed''

at some point (not in my lifetime, or even my great grandchildren either probably)
those that crawl under their bed will still get a bloody nose. it's inevitable. resistance is futile.

[PVarck31]

Re: The Astronomy and Physics thread. And things of the like.

my first thought was:
''it's not safe out here. it's wondrous, with treasures to satiate desires both subtle and gross. it's not for the timid''

and not even to mention the first part of that quote:''if you can't take a little bloody nose maybe you ought go back home and crawl under your bed''

at some point (not in my lifetime, or even my great grandchildren either probably)
those that crawl under their bed will still get a bloody nose. it's inevitable. resistance is futile.

Star Trek, right? I never got into it, but pretty sure that's where it's from. My mom loves it. I was always a Star Wars guy.

It really is an indescribable feeling for me seeing that picture. Almost all of that was invisible to us. The first galaxies, containing billions of stars, the first stars and planets being formed, a literal window into the very early universe. A time when our planet didn't even exist. Wondering what did exist out there at the time. Was there life anywhere in those thousands of galaxies? Are we the first? Or at least the first to peer this deep?

I know not everyone cares about this stuff. Believe me, I know, my wife and my two best friends couldn't care less about any of this. I wish they did. I really have no one to talk to about this stuff. I does upset me to see so many people trashing this like it's a waste of money or acting like what they see means nothing to the human race. Or they see nothing valuable science wise, they just don't care about it and people like to be mad so I guess I should have expected it.

But at least our small little group here can revel at the beauty and what this is all gonna mean for our future.

[Caulfield]

Re: The Astronomy and Physics thread. And things of the like.

Star Trek, right? I never got into it, but pretty sure that's where it's from. My mom loves it. I was always a Star Wars guy.

It really is an indescribable feeling for me seeing that picture. Almost all of that was invisible to us. The first galaxies, containing billions of stars, the first stars and planets being formed, a literal window into the very early universe. A time when our planet didn't even exist. Wondering what did exist out there at the time. Was there life anywhere in those thousands of galaxies? Are we the first? Or at least the first to peer this deep?

I know not everyone cares about this stuff. Believe me, I know, my wife and my two best friends couldn't care less about any of this. I wish they did. I really have no one to talk to about this stuff. I does upset me to see so many people trashing this like it's a waste of money or acting like what they see means nothing to the human race. Or they see nothing valuable science wise, they just don't care about it and people like to be mad so I guess I should have expected it.

But at least our small little group here can revel at the beauty and what this is all gonna mean for our future.

yep. and when (not if) someone finds an object hurdling towards us on a collision course and we have to do something about, they'll be glad that monies was well spent.

that, and somewhere out there is our future home

[slickdtc]

Re: The Astronomy and Physics thread. And things of the like.

Star Trek, right? I never got into it, but pretty sure that's where it's from. My mom loves it. I was always a Star Wars guy.

It really is an indescribable feeling for me seeing that picture. Almost all of that was invisible to us. The first galaxies, containing billions of stars, the first stars and planets being formed, a literal window into the very early universe. A time when our planet didn't even exist. Wondering what did exist out there at the time. Was there life anywhere in those thousands of galaxies? Are we the first? Or at least the first to peer this deep?

I know not everyone cares about this stuff. Believe me, I know, my wife and my two best friends couldn't care less about any of this. I wish they did. I really have no one to talk to about this stuff. I does upset me to see so many people trashing this like it's a waste of money or acting like what they see means nothing to the human race. Or they see nothing valuable science wise, they just don't care about it and people like to be mad so I guess I should have expected it.

But at least our small little group here can revel at the beauty and what this is all gonna mean for our future.

I think the vast idea of space boggles people’s minds. They can’t comprehend it, and therefore it doesn’t interest them. I’ve certainly felt like my head hurt after thinking deeply about space, the origins of galaxies, life, etc. But that practically total mystery is what makes it so fun. I’m not super in to this stuff, but if the new images didn’t make you stop and say “whoa!” then I don’t know what moves you. These types of discoveries are just a piece of the puzzle of what is life, the purpose, the history of everything. It always feels like whatever the answer is is always just out of reach, and these images bring us that much closer to the eureka moment.

[PVarck31]

Re: The Astronomy and Physics thread. And things of the like.

I think the vast idea of space boggles people’s minds. They can’t comprehend it, and therefore it doesn’t interest them. I’ve certainly felt like my head hurt after thinking deeply about space, the origins of galaxies, life, etc. But that practically total mystery is what makes it so fun. I’m not super in to this stuff, but if the new images didn’t make you stop and say “whoa!” then I don’t know what moves you. These types of discoveries are just a piece of the puzzle of what is life, the purpose, the history of everything. It always feels like whatever the answer is is always just out of reach, and these images bring us that much closer to the eureka moment.

Very well said. I think one of the most mind boggling things to me about that first pic is that those are all galaxies. Like giant, or even relatively small galaxies. Some spanning hundreds of thousands of light years across, imagining the number of stars and planets isn't even possible in our brains. It's that, that makes me take a step back and admire what we are seeing.

Seeing these early galaxies so far back in time is also mind boggling. I don't think most people realize we are looking into the past. As all of this was billions of years ago. Today, I'm sure most of those galaxies have merged with others, are just gone, or have moved outside of the observable universe. Those stars are most likely gone, well except for the red dwarfs who will live trillions of years. Not a single red dwarf born in the cosmos has died. Think about the planets around those. Billions upon billions, in fact, more like trillions. I mean if that view is basically what we would see from a grain of sand, my god. The universe is incomprehensibly large.

I also don't think people understand that Webb isn't just there to take pictures. The fact that it will be able to study exoplanets atmospheric composition is amazing to me. The fact it will be able to see more Earth like planets than previous telescopes like Kepler and Tess bring us so much closer to finding an Earth analogue. And they have to be out there. The sheer numbers tell us it's almost a statistical impossibility for there not to be a planet just like Earth. And we are already seeing potential planets like ours very close by.

Like Caulfield said, we are gonna need a new home eventually. I can't wait for all the new discoveries. Right now, the biggest thing we can say about Webb is, Potential.

Here's a great video by a very well respected member of the scientific community about what we are actually seeing. https://youtu.be/mMyJOVQdZy8

[Jr.]

Re: The Astronomy and Physics thread. And things of the like.

Unfortunately I don't think our civilization is going to be around long enough to discover what's really out in any of those galaxies, definitely not to be able to travel to one.

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[PVarck31]

Re: The Astronomy and Physics thread. And things of the like.

Unfortunately I don't think our civilization is going to be around long enough to discover what's really out in any of those galaxies, definitely not to be able to travel to one.

Sent from my SM-G970U using Operation Sports mobile app

Oh for sure. But getting to see that far back is a huge accomplishment for the human race. I keep wondering if any alien civilizations have peered back at us and see our galaxy and wonder if there is life here. Assuming we aren't the first. Which I doubt.

But if you think about it, the universe has existed for 13.8 billion years. Life on Earth formed almost as soon as it had a chance. That was around 4 Billion years ago according to new estimates. So when you think about it, we are still in the universes infancy. Estimates show the universe will continue to expand and grow for trillions of years. We showed up to the party pretty early. Makes you wonder how easily life develops. We pretty much know that supernovae spread life giving materials all across the universe. All the building blocks needed for life to occur. At least that's the prevailing thought right now. We generally know how planets form as well.

I do think Earth is rare, but when I say rare, you have to think of it on a cosmic scale. Rare to us might be 1 in 100, or 1 in a million. But one in a million is nothing on the cosmic scale. Even with higher numbers, the more likely there is an Earth analogue is out there. Something so similar to Earth, we might be able to walk on its surface. We think those planets are out there.

And not to mention other types of planets that could harbor life such as eyeball planets, or Hycean planets. Which we think are covered in water with some land and favorable temperatures for water to remain on it's surface, they also have rich hydrogen atmospheres, which is a good start for life. Not to mention total water worlds, super Earths, Even tidally locked planets which could have a terminator line full of life. (where there dark meets the light).

I wonder if much of alien life is aquatic? Maybe they never stepped out of the water.

Sorry for the long winded post. These are just exciting times.

[slickdtc]

Re: The Astronomy and Physics thread. And things of the like.

If every dot on these pictures is a galaxy full of planets, it’s almost a certainty there’s another place like ours. Imagine if we saw a civilization from these images peering back in time... the next great quest would be how do we get there, communicate, etc? It’ll never be enough to just know. Answers will beget more questions. Forever. That’s exciting but also kinda of a letdown that even if we know, we don’t KNOW. That perpetual chase is what keeps people going though.