[AZ-Observing] Re: New Hubble Pics out
- From: "Dan Heim" <dan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 9 Sep 2009 09:24:30 -0700
In the Feynman Lectures on Physics, he writes (and I paraphrase from memory)
...
"What if the rainbow, instead of being produced at visible wavelengths, was
all in the radio band? Then, one day, by chance, some radio astronomer
scans that region of sky and finds a circular arc of radio energy being
emitted, with various wavelengths separated into bands, shortest wavelengths
at the center edge, longest wavelengths at the outer edge. Would a
scientist call that data structure 'beautiful,' or simply 'interesting'?
Most, I think, would call it beautiful, even before it became an image."
Feynman was speaking about beauty in science in a very general sense. Some
equations have that symmetry or patternicity or recursiveness that cause
them to be described as "beautiful." But the average person just doesn't
"get it." Now if we took an image of that "radio rainbow" and assigned
false colors to it, but explained in the caption that it was done to make
something normally invisible to the eye become visible, most non-scientists
would see the beauty.
So my wisdom (actually Feynman's wisdom) is that false coloring is OK, as
long as you include the disclaimer.
Dan Heim
President
Desert Foothills Astronomy Club
http://www.dfacaz.org
----- Original Message -----
From: "L Knauth" <Knauth@xxxxxxx>
To: <az-observing@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 2009 9:01 AM
Subject: [AZ-Observing] New Hubble Pics out
> The NEW Hubble pictures are now being released. First batch:
> http://www.spacetelescope.org/news/html/heic0910.html
>
> Spectacular beyond belief.
>
> They have decided go all out with the assigned colors. It is an odd
sensation to look at these images: The arbitrarily assigned colors relate to
actual features across selected areas of the electromagnetic spectrum, but I
worry that the public is getting a false idea that the universe is full of
incredibly luminous, brightly colored, gaudy objects as shown in these
images (and in spite of the clear explanations regarding colors that are
usually in the captions). The human experience is totally different, even
if you were transported there to see it up close and personal. You can't
call it science fiction because the colors represent something real and
important that's actually there. But..... conflicted thoughts on all this.
What if the public only ever knew the Grand Canyon in selected wavelengths
across the electromagnet spectrum and colored up to look psychedelic?
>
> What's your wisdom?
>
> I often find myself kinda longing for the old Mt Wilson B&W photos of
galaxies--maybe because I found them so inspirational as a kid and because
they're close to what I see in my 25". Ah well, all paths are good.
>
> Warning! Going to this site can seriously impede your productivity for
the day.
>
> Paul Knauth
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