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New York, 11:04 AM
Fri Nov 27
22 posts in the last 24 hours

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  • posts about #telescopes more →

    Astronomers and the Air Force Face Off Over Lasers

    Astronomers Send Robots to Stargaze in Very Worst Place on Earth for Humans

    World's Fastest and Most Sensitive Astronomical Camera Shoots 1500 Images Per Second

    Good Luck, Hubble

    Hubble Upgrades Will Give Space Telescope Cosmic Super Vision

    Get Ready Humanity, Because Space Is a Freak Show

    This Is How the Sky Would Look if Both Your Eyes Functioned as Telescopes

    The World's Coolest-Looking Observatories

    NASA Wants You To Tell Them Where to Point the Hubble Space Telescope

    Inside NASA's 747 Flying Telescope
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    Dsmvwl  Admin  Promote to frontpage Approve user Ban user ×
    Image of agfuentes agfuentes
    10/14/09

    In reply to Astronomers and the Air Force Face Off Over Lasers
    As an astrophysicist I have to OF COURSE side with the telescopes. I have read a lot of misconceptions. These lasers are low powered (some ~ 25 W) they are not going to blow up satellites. All they can do is blind the cameras for less than a sec. over the USA. Also they are not used in every telescope. Only a few telescopes in the USA (Hawaii, AZ and in PR) have laser guided stars. A bigger problem is planes flying by but this is already taken care of by having direct communications with nearby airports and a person dedicated to staying outside the telescopes with a big red button that shuts down the laser when a plane gets close to it. We need these laser AO systems because without them we could not point at anything that is small or faint in the sky due to atmospheric turbulence. In conclusion "suck on it AirForce".
     Reply
    d_r_e approved this comment agfuentes was starred agfuentes was unstarred
    Image of bagellord bagellord
    10/14/09

    In reply to Astronomers and the Air Force Face Off Over Lasers
    How hard is it for the Pentagon to look at a computer and see if there are any satellites in the area at a given time when the astronomers call and say yay or nay?
     Reply
    bagellord was starred bagellord was unstarred
    Image of Wokcus Wokcus
    10/14/09

    In reply to Astronomers and the Air Force Face Off Over Lasers
    This is incredibly stupid. It's not like the Air Force can stop observatories in other countries from using lasers. Also, if the satellites are that easily blinded (something I'm skeptical of), they're now making sure that everyone is aware of that via the Streisand effect.
     Reply
    d_r_e promoted this comment Wokcus was starred Wokcus was unstarred
    Image of Fletch Lives Fletch Lives
    10/14/09

    @Wokcus: Excellent point, +1
     Reply
    d_r_e promoted this comment Fletch Lives was starred Fletch Lives was unstarred
    Image of RainyDayInterns RainyDayInterns
    10/14/09

    In reply to Astronomers and the Air Force Face Off Over Lasers
    We are on the side of the astronomers... here we are doing our part, pimping out our scope with a Wicked Laser:

    $3 laser holder:
    [www.rainydaymagazine.com]

    Laser in use, no planes down:
    [www.rainydaymagazine.com]
     Reply
    Edited by RainyDayInterns at 10/14/09 7:30 AM RainyDayInterns was starred RainyDayInterns was unstarred
    Image of ACoBildo ACoBildo
    10/14/09

    In reply to Astronomers and the Air Force Face Off Over Lasers
    If the American taxpayer made the observatories pay for a new mission-critical, multi-million dollar satellite every time they damaged one, I don't think observatories would be too eager to randomly fire lasers at the heavens.

    (Yes, I'm in the U.S. Air Force)
     Reply
    ReconToaster. promoted this comment ACoBildo was starred ACoBildo was unstarred
    Image of masshuum masshuum
    10/14/09

    @ACoBildo: Is it really that hard to coordinate with them? I mean come on. It seems the military just likes to make the most menial task complicated. There must be a 5 page manual on how to properly wipe one's ass.

    (Yes, I'm a civilian...)
     Reply
    d_r_e promoted this comment masshuum was starred masshuum was unstarred
    Image of ReconToaster misses garnett :( ReconToaster misses garnett :(
    10/14/09

    @ACoBildo:

    Honestly, if our technology is capable of shooting a satellite out of orbit WITH A MISSILE, then I'm sure that lasers can't be all that hard to navigate.
     Reply
    ReconToaster misses garnett :( was starred ReconToaster misses garnett :( was unstarred
    Image of 0xdeadbeef 0xdeadbeef
    10/14/09

    @ACoBildo: If the American taxpayer made the Air Force accept the responsibility for the risk of putting expensive hardware into secret orbits, I don't think they would be stonewalling when observatories give them the courtesy of letting them know they're going to be firing a laser into space at such-and-such location at such-and-such time.

    (Yes, I am an American taxpayer)
     Reply
    d_r_e promoted this comment 0xdeadbeef was starred 0xdeadbeef was unstarred
    Image of DH405 DH405
    10/14/09

    In reply to Astronomers and the Air Force Face Off Over Lasers
    Really, what are the odds? Also, shouldn't the optics and such be a bit more capable of taking a non-weapon laser?
     Reply
    DH405 was starred DH405 was unstarred
    Image of Coulterboy Coulterboy
    10/14/09

    @DH405: Actually they're pretty frakin huge odds, considering how often a laser would be shot up. These things cost millions of dollars, and you just wanna go PEW PEW and hope you miss? Not happenin. Point 2, These things are so incredibly important do you really wanna risk anything possibly messing up the optics? Consider how detailed a military satellite probably is. You don't wanna mess with that.
     Reply
    RainyDayInterns promoted this comment Coulterboy was starred Coulterboy was unstarred
    Image of RainyDayInterns RainyDayInterns
    10/14/09

    @Coulterboy: hmmm... if that is true, then it is a good thing that only law-abiding US citizens concerned with our military's well-being have access to low power lasers.
     Reply
    RainyDayInterns was starred RainyDayInterns was unstarred
    Image of ridgecity ridgecity
    08/31/09

    In reply to Astronomers Send Robots to Stargaze in Very Worst Place on Earth for Humans
    Don't they have fear it will get stolen???
     Reply
    GitEmSteveDave_HasAFrenchLoaf promoted this comment ridgecity was starred ridgecity was unstarred
    Image of dallasmay dallasmay
    08/31/09

    @ridgecity: I'm sure they have a good bike lock on it.
     Reply
    GitEmSteveDave_HasAFrenchLoaf promoted this comment dallasmay was starred dallasmay was unstarred
    Image of GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
    08/31/09

    @ridgecity: Considering the lengths one would have to go to to reach a place no human has ever set foot on before, I doubt it. If they do, I'm sure we can just ask Huggy Bear what the word on the ridge is.
     Reply
    GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid was starred GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid was unstarred
    Image of GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid
    08/31/09

    @dallasmay: But what if someone freezes the lock?
     Reply
    GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid was starred GitEmSteveDave_DefinesTurgid was unstarred
    Image of bucklefilledbird bucklefilledbird
    09/01/09

    @GitEmSteveDave_WonAForeignLott...!: But what if the bears are pacifists?!?!
     Reply
    GitEmSteveDave_WonAForeignLottery! promoted this comment bucklefilledbird was starred bucklefilledbird was unstarred
    Image of J0hnP J0hnP
    06/18/09

    In reply to World's Fastest and Most Sensitive Astronomical Camera Shoots 1500 Images Per Second
    What is "digital noise", and why would I want 10x more?
     Reply
    J0hnP was starred J0hnP was unstarred
    Image of Nick Nick
    06/18/09

    @J0hnP: screw the noise -- i want the funk
     Reply
    Nick was starred Nick was unstarred
    Image of Douglas Halamay Douglas Halamay
    05/24/09

    In reply to Good Luck, Hubble
    Really cool image. Another fav of late: [www.nasa.gov]
     Reply
    Douglas Halamay was starred Douglas Halamay was unstarred
    Image of Bos'un's Mate Bos'un's Mate
    05/24/09

    @Douglas Halamay: I could really dig a 4288×2929 pixel monitor.
     Reply
    Bos'un's Mate was starred Bos'un's Mate was unstarred
    Image of Curves Curves
    05/24/09

    In reply to Good Luck, Hubble
    Godspeed to our little eye in the sky.
     Reply
    Curves was starred Curves was unstarred
    Image of N@tedog N@tedog
    05/11/09

    In reply to Hubble Upgrades Will Give Space Telescope Cosmic Super Vision
    I'd say Hubble is the best example of NASA spending wisely. It's a two decade old, 17,000 mph, 12 ton recycle bin.
     Reply
    N@tedog was starred N@tedog was unstarred
    Image of Nick Nick
    05/10/09

    In reply to Hubble Upgrades Will Give Space Telescope Cosmic Super Vision
    i wonder how much of their new optics came from studying creatures on earth. i keep seeing new creatures found in the deep sea, etc. that use sight so incredibly different than one would expect i would assume we would try to adopt/adapt their techniques for exploration.
     Reply
    Nick was starred Nick was unstarred
    Image of switchblade saints switchblade saints
    05/10/09

    In reply to Hubble Upgrades Will Give Space Telescope Cosmic Super Vision
    will they upgrade to color?
     Reply
    switchblade saints was starred switchblade saints was unstarred
    Image of frigg frigg
    05/10/09

    @switchblade saints: No. The Hubble only takes pictures in black and white. Color is added afterwards to help visualize data.


    In this way, as is often repeated on this and other websites, the iPhone, with its ability to capture images in glorious color, remains technically superior to the Hubble Space Telescope.

     Reply
    frigg was starred frigg was unstarred
    Image of SS SS
    05/10/09

    In reply to Hubble Upgrades Will Give Space Telescope Cosmic Super Vision
    Can they direct it towards the moon and see if there is still flag and stuff from the Apollo ?
     Reply
    SS was starred SS was unstarred
    Image of TheDustball TheDustball
    05/10/09

    @SS: [hubblesite.org]
     Reply
    TheDustball was starred TheDustball was unstarred
    Image of frigg frigg
    05/10/09

    @TheDustball: I think there are other reasons why it wouldn't be possible, involving orbital dissonance, and brightness. Although with all the reasons why it wouldn't be possible, I could see how that could give the impression of "methinks the Hubble doth protest too much."
     Reply
    frigg was starred frigg was unstarred
    Image of TheDustball TheDustball
    05/10/09

    @frigg: They've taken pictures of the surface of the moon, so I don't think the people behind Hubble are putting out anything about brightness, etc.


    [hubblesite.org]


    The only valid reason I've seen given is that it just can't resolve objects that small.

     Reply
    TheDustball was starred TheDustball was unstarred
    Image of frigg frigg
    05/10/09

    @TheDustball: I've also hear the orbits are not compatible to allow it focus on the moon landing site. Also, since the Hubble's cameras are optimized for capturing the dim light of far away stars, I've heard that the bright light of the moon's surface in sunlight is overwhelming for most of its instruments. (can't confirm, just what I've heard, so ye old grain of salt, but info comes from a semi-reliable salt shaker).
     Reply
    frigg was starred frigg was unstarred
    Image of Curves Curves
    05/10/09

    In reply to Hubble Upgrades Will Give Space Telescope Cosmic Super Vision
    I love Hubble and I am very happy to hear they are upgrading it. Our spyglass to the universe. One of the rare good investments that .gov makes.
     Reply
    Curves was starred Curves was unstarred
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