[HN Gopher] Webb discovers new feature in Jupiter's atmosphere
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Webb discovers new feature in Jupiter's atmosphere
        
       Author : PaulHoule
       Score  : 52 points
       Date   : 2023-10-28 14:20 UTC (8 hours ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (phys.org)
 (TXT) w3m dump (phys.org)
        
       | ck2 wrote:
       | What I really want to see is the JWST images of Sedna
       | 
       | Hubble can only produce one pixel
       | 
       | https://esahubble.org/images/opo0414d/
       | 
       | Apparently JWST was pointed at it a year ago but all they
       | released was an image-less paper on the spectrum?
       | 
       | BTW you know the "deep field" image they use for testing?
       | 
       | I have a new favorite instead. "Abel 2218" just look at that.
       | 
       | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abell_2218
        
         | n40487171 wrote:
         | Spectrometers don't always make "images", it's possible they
         | didn't take a picture?
         | 
         | Also, that deep field has some amazing gravitational lenses!
        
         | floxy wrote:
         | While the JWST has a larger aperture (6.5 m) than Hubble (2.7
         | m), the wave lengths it is sensitive to are also longer. So the
         | overall resolution is only between 2 and 3 times better for
         | JWST. So if Hubble can only resolve something to 1 pixel, I'd
         | only expect you'd get at most 9 pixels for JWST.
        
       | HPsquared wrote:
       | Makes sense that Jupiter would also have jet streams.
        
       | eimrine wrote:
       | Can Webb be used for military purposes (observing Earth)?
        
         | mkwarman wrote:
         | No, due to heat reasons:
         | 
         | https://webb.nasa.gov/content/about/faqs/faqLite.html#:~:tex...
         | .
         | 
         | https://webb.nasa.gov/content/forScientists/faqSolarsystem.h...
        
         | feoren wrote:
         | No, it can't be pointed at the inner solar system or Earth; too
         | bright, and its heat shield would point the wrong way.
         | 
         | But the military doesn't need it. Supposedly some military tech
         | was declassified recently showing that the military had Hubble-
         | level telescopes about 15 years before Hubble. So whatever they
         | are using is much better (and more specialized, of course) than
         | Webb.
        
           | wredue wrote:
           | Not sure the technology needed is quite the same.
           | 
           | They probably have better up there, but we know that military
           | satellites are able to see the individual poles in a chain
           | link fence crisply due to Trump leaking that capability a few
           | years ago on twitter.
        
           | euroderf wrote:
           | Sure, the military had the test rig to pre-flight test
           | Hubble's optics, except that someone slipped up and well
           | dang, Hubble needed corrective lenses.
        
           | eep_social wrote:
           | Here's an article from 2012 describing the military donating
           | _two_ unlaunched hubble-class telescopes to NASA:
           | https://newatlas.com/spysatellite/22813/
        
         | mathstuf wrote:
         | Webb can only point away from Earth as the Sun is on the other
         | side of Earth from Webb's location. All it would see is a
         | bright source of IR; nothing much useful there. I'm afraid it
         | would also likely be destroyed in the process as it is assuming
         | near-absolute-zero temperatures for much of its instruments.
        
         | gustavus wrote:
         | An exhaustive, through and entertaining answer to that question
         | (for the bubble) is provided here
         | 
         | https://what-if.xkcd.com/32/
         | 
         | The short answer is not really and drones are better for it
         | anyway.
        
       | anigbrowl wrote:
       | Much of _The Algebraicist_ by Iain M Banks is about navigating
       | the environment on a gas giant. Not part of his  'Culture' sci-fi
       | setting and perhaps more re-readable for that.
        
         | Loughla wrote:
         | >Not part of his 'Culture' sci-fi setting and perhaps more re-
         | readable for that.
         | 
         | BOOOOOOOOOOOO.
         | 
         | But in all seriousness, as someone who genuinely re-reads the
         | culture series at least once a year, do you not find them re-
         | readable? And why not?
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2023-10-28 23:01 UTC)