James Webb telescope

Mike Harding · Guru

James Webb telescope

Tony LEE · Guru

Gives us a chance to imagine the results of spending those billions of dollars on solving problems on the ground instead of just producing pretty pictures for instagram

Santa · Guru

Mike Harding wrote:
An excellent BBC article about this miracle of engineering:
JamesWebb

Astounding technology Mike, hopefully we will see it launched later today.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-12-25/five-mysteries-universe-big-bang-stars-black-holes-alien-planets/100686714

Thanks for the link, perhaps we oldies will live to appreciate some of the answers it provides. smile

-- Edited by Santa on Saturday 25th of December 2021 09:15:16 AM

Mike Harding · Guru

Tony LEE wrote:
Gives us a chance to imagine the results of spending those billions of dollars on solving problems on the ground instead of just producing pretty pictures for instagram

SpinOffs

Tony LEE · Guru

Pretty paltry list if you look at the money spend on this stuff over the decades. CSIRO would have been more productive in terms of benefits per dollar

Mike Harding · Guru

Many share your opinion Tony but look back in history and review how much worth has been derived from blue sky research?

Neither Newton nor Einstein developed their theories for commercial or practical reasons but simply because they had a thirst for knowledge - such is the nature of humankind and why we are top animal on the planet.

Santa · Guru

It's on it's way, bet there are some nervous nellies waiting for the sun shield and reflector to deploy as planned. smile

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-12-26/space-telescope-launched-on-daring-quest-for-first-stars/100725828

dorian · Guru

In my opinion the most amazing story about these space telescopes was when astronauts fitted a corrective lens to Hubble.

Buzz Lightbulb · Guru

Tony LEE wrote:
Pretty paltry list if you look at the money spend on this stuff over the decades. CSIRO would have been more productive in terms of benefits per dollar

CSIRO is financed by the Australian Government not USA.

You'd be without a lot of technologies if it wasn't for astronomy and other research developments that may not seem benificial. For example, computers work because of quantum theory and no one really understands that.

Tony LEE · Guru

"You'd be without a lot of technologies if it wasn't for astronomy and other research developments that may not seem benificial." How about a list of 10 indispensable technologies entirely reliant on astronomy that couldn't have been developed separately at a fraction of the cost. Newton and Einstein were able to do all their work at almost zero cost and with zero damage to the planet because all they needed was their brain and a blackboard.

Mike Harding · Guru

Newton and Einstein, to my knowledge, didn't actually *do* much practical stuff with their research - they were thinkers, visionaries, solving the problem is all such people are concerned with. Invariably it is others who later see an application for the original research. This has happened time after time after time Tony.

No one knew research into atomic structure would lead to atomic clocks without which GPS, and *many* other things would not be possible.

I'll turn your question around and ask you to nominate some current research projects which you are sure will produce no useful output in the foreseeable future?

If we, as a species, ever stop pushing the bounds of knowledge we will wither and die... and deserve to do so.

dorian · Guru

I can see both sides of the argument. It would be nice if $10b went into medical research instead of space or armaments, especially when we have a pandemic on our hands. However, I enjoy pushing the bounds of technology and am grateful that I was able to see humans walking on the moon and all the technology that came afterwards.

My biggest beef is with those who would stifle scientific progress by imposing their own artificial barriers. In the middle ages we had religion to contend with, whereas today we have religion as well as opponents to GM agriculture, stem cell research, etc. "Bioethicists" is what I think they call themselves (is that what they put on their tax returns?).

In fact war is one of the greatest drivers of technology. Maybe we should have more of them?

Here's something to ponder. Australia was the third country to put a satellite into orbit. Imagine where we could have been today if our Menzoid masters hadn't killed off Woomera.

https://www.dst.defence.gov.au/news/2017/11/08/50th-anniversary-australias-first-satellite

-- Edited by dorian on Wednesday 29th of December 2021 08:15:50 AM

Mike Harding · Guru

dorian wrote:
It would be nice if $10b went into medical research

$B41.7 in the USA alone plus, no doubt, a lot more not included in that budget plus all the other countries on the planet... $B10 is starting to sound small-fry....

Health research

Buzz Lightbulb · Guru

Tony LEE wrote:
"You'd be without a lot of technologies if it wasn't for astronomy and other research developments that may not seem benificial." How about a list of 10 indispensable technologies entirely reliant on astronomy that couldn't have been developed separately at a fraction of the cost. Newton and Einstein were able to do all their work at almost zero cost and with zero damage to the planet because all they needed was their brain and a blackboard.

Newton and Einstein were theorists. It's no use having theories if experimentalists don't test them.

Einstein made many predictions. Not one of them has been disproven by observation. If one was disproven then theorists would have to modify the General and Special Relativity theories. In doing so maybe they can get Classical physics to work with Quantum physics. The resulting technologies are currently unimaginable.

The only place where we can observe quantum effects on Classical physics is in black holes. Currently we can only observe black holes via astronomy.

"Keep banging those rocks together." (Douglas Adams)

Sorry Mike. I just read your post and I've roughly said the same thing.

-- Edited by Buzz Lightbulb on Wednesday 29th of December 2021 10:21:01 AM

Buzz Lightbulb · Guru

dorian wrote:
I can see both sides of the argument. It would be nice if $10b went into medical research instead of space or armaments, especially when we have a pandemic on our hands. However, I enjoy pushing the bounds of technology and am grateful that I was able to see humans walking on the moon and all the technology that came afterwards.

My biggest beef is with those who would stifle scientific progress by imposing their own artificial barriers. In the middle ages we had religion to contend with, whereas today we have religion as well as opponents to GM agriculture, stem cell research, etc.
And politicians. So many times the Australian developments were not supported or sometimes suppressed by politicians and so Australian inventors went overseas. (
"Bioethicists" is what I think they call themselves (is that what they put on their tax returns?).

In fact war is one of the greatest drivers of technology. Maybe we should have more of them?
Here's something to ponder. Australia was the third country to put a satellite into orbit. Imagine where we could have been today if our Menzoid masters hadn't killed off Woomera.
https://www.dst.defence.gov.au/news/2017/11/08/50th-anniversary-australias-first-satellite

-- Edited by dorian on Wednesday 29th of December 2021 08:15:50 AM

Buzz Lightbulb · Guru

The first images from the data collected by the James Webb Telescope are about to be released by NASA on the 12th of July 2022:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25533943-000-the-james-webb-space-telescope-heralds-a-new-era-for-astronomy/?utm_campaign=RSS%7CNSNS&utm_source=NSNS&utm_medium=RSS&utm_content=currents

Plain Truth · Guru

N.A.S.A has released a test photo.

-- Edited by Plain Truth on Saturday 9th of July 2022 06:12:41 PM

Whenarewethere · Guru

Decades ago a friend who worked at CSIRO went to his doctor saying he had gallstones & needed an operation. The doctor said, well we need to get scans done. My friend said I have already done them at work. The doctor was shocked at the resolution which was ten times better than they could do.

Whenarewethere · Guru

The James Webb telescope has already had 4 micro meteorite impacts. Apparently they expect a lot of them due to the gravitational position it is parked.