Indeed. Who was she and why is a telescope being named after her (rhetorical question)? A video on how instruments are named for certain people would be great. More details about how the technological challenges of the coronascope and platform stability are to be addressed will be welcome as well as what kinds of sensors will be needed to get the desired data, and any other problems not mentioned so far. Also, how crowded is the Lagrange point right now, and how crowded can they get before there’s no more room due to various instruments blocking each other’s view? I mean, we know that Space Is Really Really Big but the Lagrange point is limited.
you got that backward . I'll fix it '' You know you're getting old when NASA won't launch till the 2040's and you won't be alive to see it. There. Much better.
@@rustythecrown9317 Yeah in the real terms but I was referencing the conundrum of your relative time speeding up every day you get older. Life is fleeting.
When I was about 12 and first decided I wanted astronomy and astrophysics to be my life's work, I never thought we'd be able to directly image an exoplanet, whether with a ground-based, or space-based telescope. Heck, the material at the time was still fuzzy on whether our data indicated real exoplanets. Almost 30 years later and this is where we're at. So when the HWO launches, imagine where we'll be with our imaging capabilities and machine learning capabilities to better enhance our data analysis. Fantastic.
William Shatner went to space(ish) in his 90s, so you never know! Eat your veggies, because maybe in 20-30 years space will be affordable (again with the ish, I'm talking sell your house affordable here. But if it's your dream...)
Never heard of an IFU before. How amazing! Would be very cool to see a video about how they work. I can't even imagine how you actually get a spectrum at every pixel.
There are three reasons why I have been a fan of Dr. Becky for so long: 1: the eyes, as deep as the universe (supernova!) 2: the accent and cadence, that help you remember how amazing and exciting space science really is 3: the wonderful choice of topics, conciseness, precision, and simplicity towards their explanation. ❤
Yea, it's like: " How long does planning take in astronomy? " --- "Well, I don't know exactly, but we are going to launch the Roman Telescope in less than twenty years."
This is interesting. I have worked on spacecraft, including both NASA and military, from the late 1970s. The long timeframes to research, design and build these devices can often be daunting to individuals. Sometimes, because of funding issues among others, there is a stop and start cycle. For example, I worked on the design of what became the ISS in the 1980s. When I started on that project, I had a bunch of older colleagues who worked on it in the 1970s. Construction in space finally began in the late 1990s. As with most space science projects, one is always trying to do something that hasn't been done before. This includes the instruments, of course, but also the spacecraft structure and mechanisms themselves. From the inception of the Landsat, it was recognized that handling and disseminating the massive amounts of data was important, thus the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) was developed. It was considered a big innovation at the time. This new satellite sounds like it may generate much more data. Fortunately, the idea of putting specialized processing in the cloud is well advanced. It started with large engineering simulations and is now in full swing with AI.
Sorry but..... ESA's main contributions to the Webb mission are: - The NIRSpec instrument - Several key components of the MIRI instrument, amounting to 50% of the whole instrument, through special funding from the ESA Member States (European Consortium) - The Ariane 5 ECA (Evolved Cryogenic, model A) launcher and all launch services at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou. - 15 scientists to support mission operations at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, USA. Not just a one... 😉
Id love to see a video on Nancy grace roman telescope! Also, do you know about kepler 22b?It is said to be in the habitable zone by NASA in 2011. Also Dr Becky, Can you make a video on how we heard the first sound after the big bang and how it was decoded for humans to hear? It would mean a lot! Thank you for the amazing videos and hoping your birthday went great!
I actually liked papyrus in Avatar! Despite the meme, it did actually look nice as subs for the film. James Cameron thought the art department came up with it and liked it. When he found out it was an old well known font and there was backlash, he said he just doubled down on putting it in everything haha
By the current parameters being used to classify a planet inhabitable, Venus would meet the parameters from outside of our solar system. The "Goldilocks Zone" is pretty much useless. From the things we know about the Earth and it's twin Venus, the difference between habitable and inhabitable can be very slight. The chances of finding another are infinitesimal.
I was a little boy when NASA started influencing my hikes through the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Tang and a 'space' blanket went everywhere I did in 1965 on to now.
Always a pleasure to hear what you have to say, Dr. Becky! Thanks very much for all the work required to share these things with us. Take good care of yourself!
The spectrometer on JWST I believe was designed with analyzing very small targets in mind like exoplanets. The spectrometer has these MEMS shutters that allow very small patches of the incoming light to be spesctroscopically analyzed
I know as a professional you might not want to do it, but I would love to see your reaction and insights into space movies. Your energy and enthusiasm is electric!
I propose we take pictures of our galactic planets, and trade with folks from other galaxies. Save some travel time. Re cameras: Freeze the secondary mirror down to -80 (dry ice) to get twice the resolution. Thanks doctor. Enjoyed the show.
Hey Dr Becky, I’ve always wondered what your opinion on J1407b is? I’ve heard a lot of people talking about it acting as if it is definitely confirmed to be a planet or a brown dwarf with rings but I’ve also heard that it has never been seen to transit its star since its initial discovery thus causing people to think that it was a rogue brown dwarf with a protoplanetary disk.This confuses me although what if J1407b just has a very far out or elliptical orbit. But even then would its ring system even be stable? How does its proximity to its star affect the size of its hill sphere? I know the closer it is the smaller the hill sphere is (?) but then why have I heard it predicted to have a orbit very close to its star? Anyways, I’m in no way an expert if you can’t tell and just a preteen with a strong passion for astrophysics and I was wondering if you had any answers to my questions, I know there’s a lot of them! Thanks
Another great video! Thank you for posting the link(s) to the decadal survey publications, I have yoinked the most recent and will be scouring that! Exoplanets are what I want to study, so anything I can get my hands on! Oh, and yes, please do a video about the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope!
Having to “wait” for a planet to cross its star isn’t even the biggest drawback of the transit detection method! A bigger problem is that in order to even be able to detect a planet using transit in the first place, the exoplanet’s orbital plane has to be aligned perfectly from our vantage point. But… the orbital planes of solar systems in the galaxy are a completely random affair (with respect to the plane of the galaxy). As such, if some solar system say had an earth sized planet located 1AU from its start (like earth is from our sun), there is less than a 0.5% chance that the planet’s orbital plane is aligned such that we could detect it from earth. In other words, it makes no difference how long we wait for the planet to cross its star since from our vantage point we would never see it crossing its star.
"Can we take a picture of an earth-like planet?" Yes, but perhaps not until the 2040s, fills me with wonder. Wonder will I be around to see it as I'll be in my 80s in that decade. Ah well. And certainly we want to see a video on the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope!
It would make sense to send 3 to 5 telescopes orbiting in tandem thousands of meters from each other, possibly connected, combine their light for much sharper images.
3:35 yes Please! I would love a video on the new Roman space telescope! There isn’t very much coverage on it right now other than a few short clips that give the absolute minimum information about it. Even who Nancy Grace Roman was and her contribution to the field of astronomy and astrophysics is rarely mentioned. Not that I’d want to watch anyone other than my favorite astrophysicist Dr. Becky explain anything to begin with…just saying. It’s like once Dr. Becky does it, then it’s officially a thing
I sincerely doubt that we will find any worlds that are habitable and even if there are any it makes no difference as we will never be able to explore them.
Becky, I really enjoy your reporting on astrophysics science and news. Please help me understand why searching for exoplanets is so important. Isn't understanding the observation of dark matter, the expansion of the universe and the possibility of bridging the gap between quantum mechanics and general relativity more important to physics? Given the number of stars in the universe, don't we already expect there to be habitable exoplanets? What is the value to humanity of finding one?
In addition to Nancy Grace Roman, I would be interested in any Vera Rubin Observatory updates since your 5 telescopes video. I would also be interested in data processing pipeline changes for these new huge survey datasets. Cheers and thank you for this update.
Wasn't there a recent study that said that flares from red dwarves are more likely to be polar, and thus they may not be as bad for habitability as previously thought? I'd love to hear your thoughts on that study.
3:13 / 3:27 / 3:30 - Nancy Grace Roman? *goes to look her up* -- ooh, yes please to a video that ideally tells us about the planned telescope, and also a bit about Dr. Roman. Thanks!
Dr. Becky, I'm curious, how does access to JWST and other astronomical data work? If you are working on a specific project based on some specific funding, you are given credentials with which you can log in and download datasets from collections made under that grant? How about "raw" data versus already massaged data? Are there datasets available to a broader community of researchers, or even the public? I'm wondering how scientists or curious amateurs even could look through data for things not specifically processed for specific studies.
Cameras that can take more contrast? As a photographer, yes please! My camera is still far behind of what my eyes can distinguish. We need better-than-human-eye technology. NASA's new technology tend to dispers into our everyday lifes (wireless headphones, infrared thermometres, UV-protective lenses, cellphone cameras...), so I can't wait until this high contrast cameras are available for everyone!
I think I read that cloud cover greenhouse effect is a variable that can have a big effect on what the habitable distances from the star actually are, but that extends the habitability further from the star, which I guess doesn't help us with the orbital frequency. Unfortunately, heavy cloud cover greenhouse doesn't seem like it will help make high orbital frequency planets habitable: see Venus LOL.
Having just completed a course in astrobiology, it seems inevitable that life will be found in the galaxy. More to the point, we should find life in our own solar system, with several moons good candidates. It just seems that the chemistry of the universe is geared towards life as we know it. The bigger issue is intelligent life. That we have had life, both created and destroyed, on this planet for so long just informs us that life is most likely probable. In that same vein, that we have had life for so long but only produced ONE intelligent species would seem to indicate that intelligent life is much, much rarer.
contrast gradients can be digitally enhanced by using tiles which are mirrored/flipped and rotated all corners in a mosaic. as for spectrograph sensitivity, consider a mirror somewhere between the shockwave of a bullet and ripples on water, where there is a linear rim around the middle and flat gradient off the outside circumference of the rim going back into concentric ripples. this will allow measure of flux from the day/night line but would rule out tidally locked planets. just some quick thoughts. ;-) x
Is there a practical limit to how many pieces of observation equipment we could fit out at L2 without risk of crowding/crashing? Or is the "orbit" path large enough that we could feasibly keep putting stuff out there for quite some time without worry?
While I absolutely admire the ability for NASA and other organizations to plan decades in advance like this, part of me goes "imagine if we made one less super carrier and gave them that money". Their budget in 2020 was 22.6 billion, the cost of a Gerald Ford is about 12 billion, that would be more than a 50% increase in budget! I bet we could cut a few years off the delivery time of a telescope for that, and surely the Navy could make do with only four of the most capable carriers on the planet? But that's how it goes. NASA gets one Hubble, the Pentagon gets a dozen KH-11s (fancy Hubbles)... but I'm grumbling. Love your videos as always, thank you for putting complex stuff in a way people like me can understand :)
The problem with the Habitable Worlds Observatory is that it isn't nearly ambitious enough. And I don't mean they should be spending more money on it, I mean it isn't designed to take advantage of the super-heavy launch vehicles that will be available by the time the spacecraft part is constructed. Habitable Worlds Observatory has only a 4m diameter and is designed to launch on a Falcon Super Heavy, but by the time the spacecraft is ready Starship will be available which has a payload of 17m length and 8m diameter. They need to do the equivalent of going from a Refractor to a Cassegrain. A huge light bucket that's cheaper and because of its hugeness, better. An 8m tube can gather 4x the light of a 4m tube. They'll have so much thrust available they don't need to care so hard about making it light weight. Start designing our space observatories for Starship already, instead of Falcon Super Heavy.
Hey, I've got that same lego car in your background! That one is lots of fun to build, pretty challenging. The Peugeot, that is. F1 car still on the wishlist.
A blue-sky idea: just how feasible would it be to put an observatory orbiting around another planet, say Mars? The advantage would be a larger base of observation, a different point to make observations from, & less glare from the Sun. The major downside would be, of course, the cost of putting something in orbit around another planet.
My major takeaway from this video is the generosity of NASA in its dissemination of research data to the astrophysics community and the development and expense that will require.
I work for L3Harris and we worked on the JWST and we are working on the Nacy Grace Roman telescope. The work on JWST was done at the site I work at, but the Nacy Grace Roman work is being done at another site :(. I did get to work on an ECU for a Lunar Lander not long ago. I cannot wait to see it fly! I so want something I worked on to land on the moon.
Given that these missions take so long to plan and launch, does the decadal survey take into account launch systems that are in planning/development at the time? In other words, it looks likely that Starship (and maybe others?) will greatly increase both the mass and size of observatories we can put into orbit, and I'm wondering if that's taken into account or if they have to plan based on current systems.
I have a bit of a niche question: Is there any team working on simulations about the effects of light passing through primordial gravitational waves and the potential effect this can have on the amount of potential extra red-shifting the light coming from distant galaxies might be subjected to due to these gravitational interactions?
Why would you think gravitational waves might cause light to red-shift? I could see them causing light dispersion - as in, weak gravitational lensing - but a gravitational wave comprises alternating contraction and expansion of space, simultaneously in two orthogonal directions. Light passing through a gravitational wave might be contracted, then stretched - or alternatively, stretched and then contracted ... depending on the propagation direction of each; and I'd think the cumulative effect on that light's wavelength at the end of it all, is nil.
How can I follow the progress of the Vira Rubin project. I’m a huge fan of Hers and now a bad ass telescope with the World largest Camera…how totally cool. Stay Blessed
Yes! I want to hear about the Nancy Grace Roman telescope.
Seconded!
Thirded.
85th actually but the rest got lazy and just thumbed up.
Fourthed.
Will there be a Neapolitan or Venetian telescope too?
And about Nancy Grace Roman the person!
Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope video? Yes, please!
Indeed.
Who was she and why is a telescope being named after her (rhetorical question)? A video on how instruments are named for certain people would be great.
More details about how the technological challenges of the coronascope and platform stability are to be addressed will be welcome as well as what kinds of sensors will be needed to get the desired data, and any other problems not mentioned so far.
Also, how crowded is the Lagrange point right now, and how crowded can they get before there’s no more room due to various instruments blocking each other’s view? I mean, we know that Space Is Really Really Big but the Lagrange point is limited.
Think of parking a car on planet earth. How many cars before it’s crowded? That’s about how crowded it’s getting at Lagrange point.
You know you're getting old when "Nasa wont launch it until the 2040's" doesn't sound far away at all...!
you got that backward . I'll fix it '' You know you're getting old when NASA won't launch till the 2040's and you won't be alive to see it. There. Much better.
@@rustythecrown9317Saved me from writing the same thing!
I’m old enough that I probably won’t live to see it.
@@rustythecrown9317 Yeah in the real terms but I was referencing the conundrum of your relative time speeding up every day you get older. Life is fleeting.
Naaaasa, not Nasa. Get it right! 🏆🏆🏆 This is Primate Physics. It talks with the Stars!
3:33 Yes, please!!
3:27 - 3:33
@@TheReaverOfDarkness and 3:13. ;)
When I was about 12 and first decided I wanted astronomy and astrophysics to be my life's work, I never thought we'd be able to directly image an exoplanet, whether with a ground-based, or space-based telescope. Heck, the material at the time was still fuzzy on whether our data indicated real exoplanets. Almost 30 years later and this is where we're at. So when the HWO launches, imagine where we'll be with our imaging capabilities and machine learning capabilities to better enhance our data analysis. Fantastic.
we're aleady starting to develop new materials with distributed automated AI labs. So, the crazy specs of this telescope don't seem so crazy anymore.
I'm at a point in life where space exploration will stay SciFi for me. On the other hand, I saw Gemini Missions live on TV!
Its gonna stay SciFi for all of us. Space tech really hasn't progressed as much and there isn't an ROI so it's gonna get slower.
William Shatner went to space(ish) in his 90s, so you never know! Eat your veggies, because maybe in 20-30 years space will be affordable (again with the ish, I'm talking sell your house affordable here. But if it's your dream...)
I've been exploring space through data, it's a beautiful universe
It is ok to remove the "fiction" if it's not made up. If a bit is hard to understand then the truth is out there: we have great tools nowadays.
@@zanzibart3 the problem is, I don’t have enough years left to see the results from this telescope.
"Do you want me to tell you about the telescope I never told you about before"
Wel DUH...... What a silly question!! 🤣😂😝
We've had one Habitable world, yes... but what about HOBBITABLE worlds?
One does not simply rocket onto exoplanets…
That was a fascinating interview from someone in that position. So much data is coming.
If everyone could just focus on some of this stuff instead of trying to kill each other, just imagine what we can do.
Dictators also need hobbies...
IFU
if only...
Reduce the arms industry to impotence ... and wreck the economy in consequence.
to be fair, many technological innovations came from the motivation to kill each other in world war: radar, computer, etc.
Never heard of an IFU before. How amazing! Would be very cool to see a video about how they work. I can't even imagine how you actually get a spectrum at every pixel.
So, I have to be alive in the 2040s.
That's not starting too good ! Haha
dammit, delaying su*c*de it is xD
In the 2040s there'll be a new thing 20 years away you'll want to hear about ... Just take each day as good luck and don't worry, be happy.
Change of plan now ;)
Dr Becky's passion for the subject permeates every part of her videos, and it's contagious. I love it.
LMAO Papyrus!!!!
Did you know they made a sequel to that which came out recently?!
In *BOLD*
The crossover I didn't know I needed!
I watched both parts for the first time just yesterday and today i see my fav science communicator referencing it. truly a small world.
Papyrus 2?? What are we doing here? Let's go!
Does it come in Italics now???
It sounds like a lovely and very interesting video but i can't take my eyes and focus out of this gorgeous 9X8 in the background.
Moon earings got me starry eyed ;)
There are three reasons why I have been a fan of Dr. Becky for so long:
1: the eyes, as deep as the universe (supernova!)
2: the accent and cadence, that help you remember how amazing and exciting space science really is
3: the wonderful choice of topics, conciseness, precision, and simplicity towards their explanation. ❤
Ayoooo, nice Peugeot 9X8 over there ;))
So pleased that these really clever people are out there, I sit back in awe and appreciation.
I LOVE the miniature Peugeot 9X8 behind you
The 2040s huh? Well, in 2046 I’ll celebrate my 100th birthday. Assuming I’m still alive for said celebration!
"The Roman Telescope" is a phrase too good to not want to hear more about it. I get that "Roman", in this case, is a person's name, but still ...
Yea, it's like: " How long does planning take in astronomy? " --- "Well, I don't know exactly, but we are going to launch the Roman Telescope in less than twenty years."
"Roman" is actually the telescope's font.
Don't worry, they'll call it the NGRST
This is interesting. I have worked on spacecraft, including both NASA and military, from the late 1970s.
The long timeframes to research, design and build these devices can often be daunting to individuals. Sometimes, because of funding issues among others, there is a stop and start cycle. For example, I worked on the design of what became the ISS in the 1980s. When I started on that project, I had a bunch of older colleagues who worked on it in the 1970s. Construction in space finally began in the late 1990s.
As with most space science projects, one is always trying to do something that hasn't been done before. This includes the instruments, of course, but also the spacecraft structure and mechanisms themselves.
From the inception of the Landsat, it was recognized that handling and disseminating the massive amounts of data was important, thus the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) was developed. It was considered a big innovation at the time. This new satellite sounds like it may generate much more data. Fortunately, the idea of putting specialized processing in the cloud is well advanced. It started with large engineering simulations and is now in full swing with AI.
Sorry but..... ESA's main contributions to the Webb mission are:
- The NIRSpec instrument
- Several key components of the MIRI instrument, amounting to 50% of the whole instrument, through special funding from the ESA Member States (European Consortium)
- The Ariane 5 ECA (Evolved Cryogenic, model A) launcher and all launch services at Europe's Spaceport in Kourou.
- 15 scientists to support mission operations at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, USA.
Not just a one... 😉
I was referring to the UK Space agency's contribution - sorry if that wasn't clear!
Id love to see a video on Nancy grace roman telescope! Also, do you know about kepler 22b?It is said to be in the habitable zone by NASA in 2011.
Also Dr Becky,
Can you make a video on how we heard the first sound after the big bang and how it was decoded for humans to hear? It would mean a lot!
Thank you for the amazing videos and hoping your birthday went great!
I actually liked papyrus in Avatar! Despite the meme, it did actually look nice as subs for the film. James Cameron thought the art department came up with it and liked it. When he found out it was an old well known font and there was backlash, he said he just doubled down on putting it in everything haha
She can sing too 🤩 🤩
By the current parameters being used to classify a planet inhabitable, Venus would meet the parameters from outside of our solar system. The "Goldilocks Zone" is pretty much useless. From the things we know about the Earth and it's twin Venus, the difference between habitable and inhabitable can be very slight. The chances of finding another are infinitesimal.
I was a little boy when NASA started influencing my hikes through the Bob Marshall Wilderness. Tang and a 'space' blanket went everywhere I did in 1965 on to now.
The fact that I understood your every word must say something about our mutual habitation of a particular Spacetime! :)
Love the Papyrus reference 😂😂
Always a pleasure to hear what you have to say, Dr. Becky! Thanks very much for all the work required to share these things with us. Take good care of yourself!
Looking forward to the interview! 👍🏻
Yes, telescope vid for sure! 👏🏻
Always enjoy your vids. 👏🏻🙂
The spectrometer on JWST I believe was designed with analyzing very small targets in mind like exoplanets. The spectrometer has these MEMS shutters that allow very small patches of the incoming light to be spesctroscopically analyzed
Can we call it sometime other than IFU... Something only tagged on a raunchy mini candy heart for Valentine's Day.
😂😂😂
I knew I couldn't be the only one thinking it 😂
You got a big laugh from me with that “Papyrus!!” Clip.
hi becky !! a video about the NGR would be great !! thanks for the proposal !! and congrats for your tremendous work !! love it !!
Well, I think "technicological" sounds cooler than "technological", so I'll support it.
Must say, bloopers best part of the mini lecture. Proves you are human not a bot. Long time runups are a thing of todays world.. more and more.
Thank you! Great explanations, as always. And adding the interview with Dr. Mark Clampin gave it something most other videos don't have.
Absolutely would like to watch a video about the NGR telescope Becky! 👍👍💥💥
I know as a professional you might not want to do it, but I would love to see your reaction and insights into space movies. Your energy and enthusiasm is electric!
Papyrus SNL clip was fire
I propose we take pictures of our galactic planets, and trade with folks from other galaxies. Save some travel time. Re cameras: Freeze the secondary mirror down to -80 (dry ice) to get twice the resolution. Thanks doctor. Enjoyed the show.
I want to hear more of you singing.
Scanning for life forms,
Those little life forms
I love scanning for life forms
Yes I do!
Tribute to Commander Data
4:14 Looking for habitable planets at this stage in our space game is like planning a roadtrip before you've even got a car
Happy day-after-your-birthday! Love the "toe-nail moon" earings! Is there a significance to whether the missing part is on the inside or the outside?
Yes, I also noticed that they weren't in the usual order..
Hey Dr Becky, I’ve always wondered what your opinion on J1407b is? I’ve heard a lot of people talking about it acting as if it is definitely confirmed to be a planet or a brown dwarf with rings but I’ve also heard that it has never been seen to transit its star since its initial discovery thus causing people to think that it was a rogue brown dwarf with a protoplanetary disk.This confuses me although what if J1407b just has a very far out or elliptical orbit. But even then would its ring system even be stable? How does its proximity to its star affect the size of its hill sphere? I know the closer it is the smaller the hill sphere is (?) but then why have I heard it predicted to have a orbit very close to its star? Anyways, I’m in no way an expert if you can’t tell and just a preteen with a strong passion for astrophysics and I was wondering if you had any answers to my questions, I know there’s a lot of them! Thanks
Another great video! Thank you for posting the link(s) to the decadal survey publications, I have yoinked the most recent and will be scouring that! Exoplanets are what I want to study, so anything I can get my hands on!
Oh, and yes, please do a video about the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope!
Life goals: live to see the HWO, helicopter on Titan and submarine on Europa😊
Having to “wait” for a planet to cross its star isn’t even the biggest drawback of the transit detection method! A bigger problem is that in order to even be able to detect a planet using transit in the first place, the exoplanet’s orbital plane has to be aligned perfectly from our vantage point. But… the orbital planes of solar systems in the galaxy are a completely random affair (with respect to the plane of the galaxy). As such, if some solar system say had an earth sized planet located 1AU from its start (like earth is from our sun), there is less than a 0.5% chance that the planet’s orbital plane is aligned such that we could detect it from earth. In other words, it makes no difference how long we wait for the planet to cross its star since from our vantage point we would never see it crossing its star.
Every new partnership announcement gets me more excited about Revux!
Yes, please do a video on the Roman Telescope and dark energy. And thanks for an excellent talk and interview!
"Can we take a picture of an earth-like planet?" Yes, but perhaps not until the 2040s, fills me with wonder. Wonder will I be around to see it as I'll be in my 80s in that decade. Ah well.
And certainly we want to see a video on the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope!
That whiteboard was full of squigly hyerogliphs - I knew magic would come into it, eventually
In the early 2000s there was talk about the Terrestrial Planet Finder. Sadly, that died.
Oh wow this is possibly in my lifetime. That’s pretty exciting.
What if that star doesn’t emit that light spectrum or a spectrum we can’t detect?
Yes I wanna hear about the Nancy Drew Mystery Telescope!
It would make sense to send 3 to 5 telescopes orbiting in tandem thousands of meters from each other, possibly connected, combine their light for much sharper images.
That was a great Segue to the adv.
'Segue', not 'segway'. Segway is a scooter.
3:35 yes Please! I would love a video on the new Roman space telescope! There isn’t very much coverage on it right now other than a few short clips that give the absolute minimum information about it. Even who Nancy Grace Roman was and her contribution to the field of astronomy and astrophysics is rarely mentioned. Not that I’d want to watch anyone other than my favorite astrophysicist Dr. Becky explain anything to begin with…just saying. It’s like once Dr. Becky does it, then it’s officially a thing
Just imagine Dr. Becky going up in a Starship as a mission specialist to deploy the space observatory.
One can dream!
I love how you provided an image of yourself for your own paper, as if we don't already know what you look like 😄.
Dr. Becky, in a future video can you discuss what technologies will be needed for the habitable worlds mission?
Yes, please, a video on the Roman telescope!
I sincerely doubt that we will find any worlds that are habitable and even if there are any it makes no difference as we will never be able to explore them.
Becky, I really enjoy your reporting on astrophysics science and news. Please help me understand why searching for exoplanets is so important. Isn't understanding the observation of dark matter, the expansion of the universe and the possibility of bridging the gap between quantum mechanics and general relativity more important to physics? Given the number of stars in the universe, don't we already expect there to be habitable exoplanets? What is the value to humanity of finding one?
Yes please - a video on the Grace Roman telescope.
In addition to Nancy Grace Roman, I would be interested in any Vera Rubin Observatory updates since your 5 telescopes video. I would also be interested in data processing pipeline changes for these new huge survey datasets. Cheers and thank you for this update.
I hope I live long enough to see the images from the Habitable Worlds Observatory 🤞🏻
Wasn't there a recent study that said that flares from red dwarves are more likely to be polar, and thus they may not be as bad for habitability as previously thought? I'd love to hear your thoughts on that study.
3:13 / 3:27 / 3:30 - Nancy Grace Roman? *goes to look her up* -- ooh, yes please to a video that ideally tells us about the planned telescope, and also a bit about Dr. Roman. Thanks!
Dr. Becky, I'm curious, how does access to JWST and other astronomical data work? If you are working on a specific project based on some specific funding, you are given credentials with which you can log in and download datasets from collections made under that grant? How about "raw" data versus already massaged data? Are there datasets available to a broader community of researchers, or even the public? I'm wondering how scientists or curious amateurs even could look through data for things not specifically processed for specific studies.
5:30 finally i got how its working.
Cameras that can take more contrast? As a photographer, yes please! My camera is still far behind of what my eyes can distinguish. We need better-than-human-eye technology. NASA's new technology tend to dispers into our everyday lifes (wireless headphones, infrared thermometres, UV-protective lenses, cellphone cameras...), so I can't wait until this high contrast cameras are available for everyone!
I think I read that cloud cover greenhouse effect is a variable that can have a big effect on what the habitable distances from the star actually are, but that extends the habitability further from the star, which I guess doesn't help us with the orbital frequency. Unfortunately, heavy cloud cover greenhouse doesn't seem like it will help make high orbital frequency planets habitable: see Venus LOL.
Yes. I'd very much like to hear about Roman, please. L2's going to be crowded.
I must say, you make the cutest Bloopers! :D
Fascinating stuff indeed! Thanks a bunch for the interview and explanations, dr. Becky! 😃
Stay safe there with your family! 🖖😊
Having just completed a course in astrobiology, it seems inevitable that life will be found in the galaxy. More to the point, we should find life in our own solar system, with several moons good candidates. It just seems that the chemistry of the universe is geared towards life as we know it. The bigger issue is intelligent life. That we have had life, both created and destroyed, on this planet for so long just informs us that life is most likely probable. In that same vein, that we have had life for so long but only produced ONE intelligent species would seem to indicate that intelligent life is much, much rarer.
contrast gradients can be digitally enhanced by using tiles which are mirrored/flipped and rotated all corners in a mosaic. as for spectrograph sensitivity, consider a mirror somewhere between the shockwave of a bullet and ripples on water, where there is a linear rim around the middle and flat gradient off the outside circumference of the rim going back into concentric ripples. this will allow measure of flux from the day/night line but would rule out tidally locked planets.
just some quick thoughts.
;-) x
Wouldn’t traveling against the rotation of the galaxy give us a substantial advantage in space travel?
Yes, please do a video on the Nancy Grace Roman telescope!!! 🙏🙏🙏
Is there a practical limit to how many pieces of observation equipment we could fit out at L2 without risk of crowding/crashing? Or is the "orbit" path large enough that we could feasibly keep putting stuff out there for quite some time without worry?
While I absolutely admire the ability for NASA and other organizations to plan decades in advance like this, part of me goes "imagine if we made one less super carrier and gave them that money". Their budget in 2020 was 22.6 billion, the cost of a Gerald Ford is about 12 billion, that would be more than a 50% increase in budget! I bet we could cut a few years off the delivery time of a telescope for that, and surely the Navy could make do with only four of the most capable carriers on the planet?
But that's how it goes. NASA gets one Hubble, the Pentagon gets a dozen KH-11s (fancy Hubbles)... but I'm grumbling.
Love your videos as always, thank you for putting complex stuff in a way people like me can understand :)
What in world were the formulas or equations on the Directors white board on his door?😂😂
I would love it if most were scientific equations and diagrams ... but a few at the bottom are doodles from someone's kids.
The problem with the Habitable Worlds Observatory is that it isn't nearly ambitious enough. And I don't mean they should be spending more money on it, I mean it isn't designed to take advantage of the super-heavy launch vehicles that will be available by the time the spacecraft part is constructed. Habitable Worlds Observatory has only a 4m diameter and is designed to launch on a Falcon Super Heavy, but by the time the spacecraft is ready Starship will be available which has a payload of 17m length and 8m diameter.
They need to do the equivalent of going from a Refractor to a Cassegrain. A huge light bucket that's cheaper and because of its hugeness, better. An 8m tube can gather 4x the light of a 4m tube. They'll have so much thrust available they don't need to care so hard about making it light weight. Start designing our space observatories for Starship already, instead of Falcon Super Heavy.
So if we start building a new one every year then after 20 years we start launching a new one every year!
Hey, I've got that same lego car in your background! That one is lots of fun to build, pretty challenging. The Peugeot, that is. F1 car still on the wishlist.
A blue-sky idea: just how feasible would it be to put an observatory orbiting around another planet, say Mars? The advantage would be a larger base of observation, a different point to make observations from, & less glare from the Sun. The major downside would be, of course, the cost of putting something in orbit around another planet.
My major takeaway from this video is the generosity of NASA in its dissemination of research data to the astrophysics community and the development and expense that will require.
Happy Birthday wonderful, beautiful lady, Dr. Becky!!
I work for L3Harris and we worked on the JWST and we are working on the Nacy Grace Roman telescope. The work on JWST was done at the site I work at, but the Nacy Grace Roman work is being done at another site :(. I did get to work on an ECU for a Lunar Lander not long ago. I cannot wait to see it fly! I so want something I worked on to land on the moon.
So if "how we work with data" is the question...where I can apply my CV? I would love to be involved
Given that these missions take so long to plan and launch, does the decadal survey take into account launch systems that are in planning/development at the time? In other words, it looks likely that Starship (and maybe others?) will greatly increase both the mass and size of observatories we can put into orbit, and I'm wondering if that's taken into account or if they have to plan based on current systems.
I have a bit of a niche question: Is there any team working on simulations about the effects of light passing through primordial gravitational waves and the potential effect this can have on the amount of potential extra red-shifting the light coming from distant galaxies might be subjected to due to these gravitational interactions?
Why would you think gravitational waves might cause light to red-shift? I could see them causing light dispersion - as in, weak gravitational lensing - but a gravitational wave comprises alternating contraction and expansion of space, simultaneously in two orthogonal directions. Light passing through a gravitational wave might be contracted, then stretched - or alternatively, stretched and then contracted ... depending on the propagation direction of each; and I'd think the cumulative effect on that light's wavelength at the end of it all, is nil.
Dr. Becky: You HAVE TO make a _nail-biting live stream video_ when this thing finally launches...😉
Or the flawlessly timed walk up and point just in time for ignition.
please discuss the Roman telescope
How can I follow the progress of the Vira Rubin project.
I’m a huge fan of Hers and now a bad ass telescope with the World largest Camera…how totally cool.
Stay Blessed