Another NASA Annoucement!

Warped

Warped

Newbie
Joined
Jan 25, 2009
Messages
7,546
Reaction score
0
I am looking forward to Wed :D

hubble-space-telescope.jpg

NASA is expected to announce a new discovery by researchers using the Hubble Space Telescope on Wednesday (Jan. 26).

The space agency has scheduled a teleconference with reporters for 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT) on Wednesday to announce and discuss the finding, which will also be published that day in the journal Nature.

"Astronomers have pushed the Hubble Space Telescope to its limits and have seen further back in time than ever before," NASA said in an announcement posted on its website today (Jan. 21).

Audio of the teleconference will be streamed live on the space agency's website, according to NASA's announcement. The briefing coincides with research that will be released by the science journal Nature on Wednesday, the space agency said.

The panelists participating in the press conference will be:

* Rychard Bouwens, Hubble co-investigator from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) and Leiden University in The Netherlands
* Garth Illingworth, Hubble principal investigator from UCSC
* Eric Smith, Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope program scientist, NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C.

The Hubble Space Telescope, a joint effort between NASA and the European Space Agency, launched in April 1990. In the two decades since, Hubble has revolutionized the way humanity views the cosmos.

The telescope's observations revealed, for instance, that the universe is expanding faster than anyone had realized. This finding helped lead astronomers to the probable chief cause of this accelerated expansion — the mysterious "dark energy" that makes up most of our universe.

For astronomers and laymen alike, Hubble's images have also helped bring the wonders of the cosmos closer. The telescope has been repaired five times over its long life, but it's expected to keep going strong until at least 2014.
Click to expand...

I know its only an announcement of an announcement but these get me anxious to know what they found.
 
They found... *dramatic music* the edge of the simulation.
 
Hey maybe they found another million billion stars. Big whoop am I right.
 
they found gas giant that is 14% smaller than usual so they make a new kind of category called "not-as-big-but-still-kinda-big-giant-gas" planet and is so far away that the only avaible image is some white sparkle whitout any detail
 
What was the last announcement about? I only ever saw the thread for the announcement of the announcement and didn't keep up with the thread to see what it was actually about. I assume it was lame.
 
Krynn72 said:
What was the last announcement about? I only ever saw the thread for the announcement of the announcement and didn't keep up with the thread to see what it was actually about. I assume it was lame.
Click to expand...

They found DNA which formed using Arsenic, thus showing that life can be form in other ways than that which we already know. Wasn't that exciting.
 
Robbo said:
They found DNA which formed using Arsenic, thus showing that life can be form in other ways than that which we already know. Wasn't that exciting.
Click to expand...

Didn't it turn out to be false or something?
 
They found Pandora, mining for Unobtainium will commence in the coming 6 years.
 
Could it have something to do with the NRO's recent launch of their new classified Satellite?

Highly doubt it
 
It turns out that it is the most distant object ever seen. It is a exremley small galaxy that existed 480 million years after the big bang, it was full of blue stars and is 1/100th the size of the Milky Way.
 
oldest.jpg

Shown here is the Hubble Space Telescope's photo of a candidate galaxy that existed 480 million years after the Big Bang (the z~10 galaxy) and the position in the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) where it was found. The galaxy is touted as the oldest, most distant one yet seen by Hubble. This field -- called HUDF09 – is the deepest infrared image ever taken of the universe.
NASA, ESA, Garth Illingworth (University of California, Santa Cruz) and Rychard Bouwens (University of California, Santa Cruz and Leiden University) and the HUDF09 Team.
Click to expand...

hubble-farthest-galaxy-photos-110126.jpg

hubble-telescope-vision-graphic.jpg


http://www.space.com/10691-oldest-galaxy-discovered-hubble-space-telescope.html

looks like we're inching towards the beginning of time to me

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8Q698X03W0&feature=feedu
 
I just love how spoiled we have all become. You found evidance that life can be formed in ways we never knew making the probability of life out there that much more likely? Meh.

What's that? You can see a galaxy billions of light years away that existed just 480 million years after the big bang? Big ****ing deal.
 
Spoiled? People don't take the knowledge for granted, they simply aren't interested or aren't even aware of it. You don't become spoiled by having something available to you and not taking it.
 
I think many of the people saying such an announcement is boring or unexciting are gaining the knowledge, they just don't think it's in any way significant. They are spolied by the amount of scientific discoveries in the last few decades.

It was just a few decades back that we didn't think there was anything outside of our own galaxy, now we are seeing galaxies as they were 13 billion years ago. Just a decade ago we had no evidance that other planets even existed, today we have found thousands of them. Yet most people when they hear of such discoveries simply don't find them exciting. Which is a shame.
 
Yes, you are right we have become desensitized to all this stuff. However that doesn't mean I wouldn't be excited by a NASA announcement if it was for example:
-The discovery of an Earth like planet
-Discovery of complex multycelular lifeforms in our solar system (probably on Europa)
-The reaveal of an advanced reuseable spacecraft to replace the space shuttles
-That they have started work on the first lunar base
-That they are sending the first people to Mars

That sort of stuff. The discovery of the oldest galaxy EVER, I just don't find all that interesting, sorry.
 
they'll only care when we'll have to live on another planet at some point thousands of years from now
 
Remus said:
Yes, you are right we have become desensitized to all this stuff. However that doesn't mean I wouldn't be excited by a NASA announcement if it was for example:
-The discovery of an Earth like planet
Click to expand...
http://news.discovery.com/space/earth-like-planet-life.html

Being just 20 light years away is pretty much in our own backyard, eventhough it would take thousands of years for us to get there.

-Discovery of complex multycelular lifeforms in our solar system (probably on Europa)
-The reaveal of an advanced reuseable spacecraft to replace the space shuttles
-That they have started work on the first lunar base
-That they are sending the first people to Mars
Click to expand...
All those things are cool but that doesn't mean other things that are less significant aren't either. And none of those discoveries will likely be one big discovery, they will be a series of much smaller much less significant discoveries.

That sort of stuff. The discovery of the oldest galaxy EVER, I just don't find all that interesting, sorry.
Click to expand...

You are looking over 13 billion years in the past. If you could go back just a few hundred million more years in the past you would see the formation of the universe. How is that not interesting?

One of the greatest discoveries in a while was the WMAP image which showed the universe as it was just 380,000 years after the big bang. I bet most people didn't find that all that interesting either when the first image was released in 2003.
 
No Limit, I find this interesting, but you can't blame other people for not being exited. Everyone has different interests. Some people would be baffled that you don't shit your pants (I assume) when they discover a new subspecies of toad. Space exploration is not some universal topic of interest for all humanity.
 
Yeah, that's fair. But the nature of some of the criticism of the significance of these discoveries (not pointing my finger at anyone here, just speaking in general terms) really plays a role in not getting the funding and the interest needed to continue research in this area. And that's a shame.
 
No Limit said:
I think many of the people saying such an announcement is boring or unexciting are gaining the knowledge, they just don't think it's in any way significant. They are spolied by the amount of scientific discoveries in the last few decades.

It was just a few decades back that we didn't think there was anything outside of our own galaxy, now we are seeing galaxies as they were 13 billion years ago. Just a decade ago we had no evidance that other planets even existed, today we have found thousands of them. Yet most people when they hear of such discoveries simply don't find them exciting. Which is a shame.
Click to expand...

I wasn't disputing that (though I'm about to), I was merely pointing out that spoiled wasn't really the proper word. And now onto the dispute: I think you're overstating how exciting people found astronomical discovery. Sure, average people loved Mercury, they loved Apollo, they probably cared about the shuttle at some point. Maybe they read this fact or that fact and said gee, isn't that interesting? But other than rallying around really concrete and impressive challenges, no one has ever really cared too much about what NASA does and the implications of their discoveries. I'd say the coming of such a reliable source of information and communication as the internet has probably focused and expanded the community of people who are actually interested in space far beyond what it was in the day when breakthroughs were being made, but even still, it's not exactly a huge chunk of people who are fascinated by what's being seen.

Now for a general NASA rant: NASA being scrapped as our primary source of space exploration was probably for the best. There are some functions that the government should be in charge of, but space exploration and research is not one of them. They've grown so inefficient and cautious that they couldn't launch their way out of a paper bag. Flying with the Russians is cheaper. So is sending satellites up with Space X. This is where the action is. Private enterprise works.
 
Sheepo said:
Private enterprise works.
Click to expand...

I have to agree with this.
Once it will be proven without a shadow of a doubt that it's possible to make a profit out of space exploration, you will see a boom in development, similar to what happened to the aircraft industry.
At least that's the idea.
 
I don't think people never cared about this stuff. The mission to the moon defined and entire generation. But with all the recent discoveries people in general have stopped caring. And you if you don't really care about alot of this stuff, you have every right not to. But I would challange anyone that doesn't care to really take a look at this stuff. How anyone can say that looking back 13 billion years in to our history isn't interesting is really confusing to me.

Your opinion on Nasa is sort of one of the big problems I have. Nasa's main function is not to send people in to space for the sake of sending people to space, I think that is one of the most wasteful use of resources out there (but that's just my personal opinion). Their main function is scientific research most of which is unmanned. And the majority of this scientific research has absolutely no value to private investors but has huge value when it comes to understanding the universe around us. Some of the largest scientific discoveries when it comes to the universe have been made because Nasa was around. Hubble is a nasa program, without it there would be a huge gap in what we know about the universe. Spitzer space telescope is also a Nasa program that allowed us to see direct images of planets in other solar systems.

Space exploration as far as manned missions go is not the point of Nasa, the point is to try and find out how the universe works. You can't tell me that this is a question you wouldn't love to have an anwser to and that this question doesn't interest you. And when we can have direct images of galaxies as they were 13.2 billion years ago that only helps us come closer to answering this question. Big discoveries that fascinate everyone rarely happen, but when they do occur they do so because of a large series of much smaller discoveries most people didn't really care about.
 
nasa just need to mkae cool looking vehicles and spaceships and suits and everyone will like them more

and fighting kangaroos
 
I agree with No Limit 100%. Also, privatization of space is NOT a good idea IMO. NASA does SCIENCE things for the betterment of humanity and America (sorry all the rest of you guys ;) ).

Sheepo, I dunno what the hell you're talking about or what kind of evidence you have to back your claims that private enterprise works in the context of space exploration... since the only indication we have of this is that yes, private enterprise is very successful in exploring the edge of the atmosphere since the ONLY viable way to make money is by either flying rich people to space for a couple of minutes or launching commercial satellites, neither of which are something I give a shit about, nor qualify as scientific exploration of space. It costs a lot of money to send guys the moon or Mars or getting samples from places like this, or just sending probes out in the solar system... money that nobody could EVER get back in profit. It's for science. Private enterprise only cares about science if it can make them money, and for the near future (decades) there really isn't much in the way of profit to be seen here...
 
No Limit said:
I don't think people never cared about this stuff. The mission to the moon defined and entire generation. But with all the recent discoveries people in general have stopped caring.
Click to expand...

I don't think that's really accurate. The moon landing was iconic because it was something universally tangible. Just about anyone could sit down and watch it and take something away from it. If you break it down, it was just a few American dudes in a rocket, flying to the moon and planting a flag. That's something anyone can latch onto. To say the same people became "desensitized" to this kind of thing is to ignore the nature of much of the following discoveries. People aren't as receptive to discoveries such as this because they aren't as visceral or exciting. Maybe those are the wrong words, but you probably know what I'm trying to drive at here.

Anyway, that's not to discount their importance, and that's not to say they shouldn't be recognized a bit more, I'm just saying why they probably aren't. Personally, I think this kind of stuff is fascinating in a sense (my earlier post was purely tongue-in-cheek, if that wasn't obvious), but I don't get all weak in the knees for it or anything.
 
Ennui said:
NASA does SCIENCE things for the betterment of humanity
Click to expand...

And that's all fine and good and it should keep doing that, but in my opinion the priority should be the development of cheap safe and reliable methods of geting, more people and equipment into space. As it has already been stated in this thread, that's not the point of NASA, and that's OK. So the question is who is going to turn manned space exploration (and space tourism down the line) into a reality if not private companies?
NASA can do the science/research etc. and private companies will take care of the manned space flight and tourism. What's so bad about that?
 
Bad^Hat said:
...
Click to expand...

But why was the moon landing so iconic to just about everyone? Humans have been looking at the sky for as long as we've been around with extreme fascination. With the moon landing for the first time ever we were going to be landing on a rock in that sky that we have been looking at for hundreds of thousands of years without really understanding much of anything about it. That's why this was so universally tangible.

I think you are right, my statement there wasn't all that accurate. I wrote that out then as I wrote the rest of the post I thought more about it. I don't think people stopped caring. People still do care. Is anyone here not fascinated by how the universe works? Where it came from? When people talk of parallel universes being likely does that not interest just about everybody? These are all questions everyone of us would love to have an answer to. Discoveries such as the one announced today by Nasa bring us closer to answering those questions. So today's announcement might not be all that interesting to many people but these people should realize how important these type of announcements are.

I also do agree with you that all this isn't extremely exciting to most people as we have a shit load of data and information but very little answers to the big questions. But I would just like to say this. When people saw the first lightbulb turn on they must have been amazed by it. But those same people probably didn't care all that much about OHM's law when that was discovered. When people played the first computer game they must have been amazed, but they probably didn't care all that much about the invention of logical gates. Small things that seem insignificant to most people, while extremely significant to a small population of people, usually lead to very significant discoveries. Space exploration as well as particle physics here on earth are no different. And many people don't have to geek out on all of this, I just wish they would take it more seriously and realize that the questions that this data tries to answer is interesting, it is exciting, and one day I think it will amaze all of us (I just hope I live long enough to see it).
 
Ennui said:
I agree with No Limit 100%. Also, privatization of space is NOT a good idea IMO. NASA does SCIENCE things for the betterment of humanity and America (sorry all the rest of you guys ;) ).

Sheepo, I dunno what the hell you're talking about or what kind of evidence you have to back your claims that private enterprise works in the context of space exploration... since the only indication we have of this is that yes, private enterprise is very successful in exploring the edge of the atmosphere since the ONLY viable way to make money is by either flying rich people to space for a couple of minutes or launching commercial satellites, neither of which are something I give a shit about, nor qualify as scientific exploration of space. It costs a lot of money to send guys the moon or Mars or getting samples from places like this, or just sending probes out in the solar system... money that nobody could EVER get back in profit. It's for science. Private enterprise only cares about science if it can make them money, and for the near future (decades) there really isn't much in the way of profit to be seen here...
Click to expand...

Eh, I shouldn't really have said exploration, and I sort of exaggerated, but my rant was intended to really highlight how poorly NASA's been utilized and run in recent years. The fact is it hasn't been used for anything new or innovative in decades. The shuttle program is unnecessary, since we can hitch up with the Russians for cheaper. Private companies are already proving that they can build rockets far more efficiently and for far cheaper. NASA gives the contracts, gives them Canaveral, and makes sure they adhere to their strict safety protocol. In the meantime they can continue the research of their ongoing projects.
 
Sheepo said:
my rant was intended to really highlight how poorly NASA's been utilized and run in recent years. The fact is it hasn't been used for anything new or innovative in decades.
Click to expand...


But see, and I don't say this to be disrespectful, that's absolute horseshit. In no way is that a fact.

Hubble was new and it was innovative, it gave us insight in to the universe that generations before us could never dream of. The mars rovers were new and they were innovative, outperforming what they were designed to do on just about every level. The spitzer space telescope was new and it was innovative, actually allowing us to take direct pictures of planets in other solar systems, proving without doubt that they were there. The new horizons probe is new and innovative. The data nasa has gathered on global warming was new and it was innovative...These are just the things off the top of my head in the last decade or two. These were all extremely significant things.

Recognize this image?

Pillars-of-Creation_sm.jpg


Unless you've lived under a rock of course you do, it's one of the most famous Hubble images created. You can thank Nasa for that image which shows the creation of stars.

You have this very narrow mindset about what Nasa does, and it's not a fair one. You really should give them a lot more credit.
 
I'm very familiar with NASA (I all but got a private tour of every inch of the KSC and Canaveral), I know what they do, and I do appreciate it. I was talking about space flight, which is a huge part of what NASA does, but they're doing it poorly. Hubble was put into space twenty years ago (two decades). I don't question what marvels its revealed, or how important it's been. I just don't think we should chalk up NASA as being hugely successful because it's given us iconic and incredible images of our universe and we just think that's nifty, so no reason to be concerned about the money we pour into it every year to gt a few shuttle launches which rarely accomplish anything of note and costs far more than it should. Also, you should count the number of times you said 'was' in that paragraph. That sort of indicates my point.
 
Privatization in space will lead to militarized corporations like all the space games out there!
 
I took a couple tours around Carlsbad Caverns. That doens't make me a geologist.

I used the term "was" because you said Nasa hasn't innovated anything new in decades. The examples I listed were all in the last decade or 2. The fact hubble was launched 20 years ago is a great example of my point. Hubble today is still doing it's mission exceeding what it was designed to do, it might be doing this mission for another decade or so. Everything else I listed for the most part is still active, the spitzer telescope was launched in 2003 designed to run 2-5 years, it is still running today far exceeding it's specifications.

The fact you say that we shouldn't chalk up Nasa as a success because it gave us a few nifty images really bugs me. It's not about nifty images. It is about the meaning behing those images. Nasa has given us huge insights in to our universe. Their nifty images showed that the universe is expanding at an alarming rate, putting in question everything we know about modern physics. Their nifty images were able to give us the age of the universe with amazing accuracy. Their nifty images proved that there are billions of earth like planets around our universe.

It boils down to the question of do you care about how the universe works or do you not? If you do cool, you are like most people on this planet and you should appreciate this research more. If you don't I guess there really isn't all that much I could say to convince you otherwise.
 
You're talking about Hubble. I'm not. I expect more. You don't.

And don't question my knowledge of NASA. Even if I don't appreciate them, I know them.
 
Sheepo said:
And don't question my knowledge of NASA. Even if I don't appreciate them, I know them.
Click to expand...

I bet I know Nasa better than you do! Whats Nasa's middle name? BET YOU DON'T KNOW.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Dandan
New Moon Found Orbiting Pluto
Replies
27
Views
2K
Dandan
Dandan
Warped Dan
Earth-Size Alien Planet at Alpha Centauri Is Closest Ever Seen
Replies
11
Views
3K
Slug Advisor
Slug Advisor
Stylo
Astronomers Confirm Another Earth-Like Planet
Replies
25
Views
2K
Viperidae
Viperidae
Warped
What can it be?? Place your bets!
2 3
Replies
88
Views
4K
Danimal
Danimal
Dandan
Recent Space Discoveries
Replies
17
Views
2K
Eejit
Eejit
Back
Top