Upgraded Hubble To Be 90 Times As Powerful 194
The feed brings us a New Scientist review of the repairs and new instruments that astronauts will bring to the Hubble Space Telescope next August (unless the launch is delayed). The resulting instrument will be 90 times as powerful as Hubble was designed to be when launched, and 60% more capable than it was after its flawed optics were repaired in 1993. If the astronauts pull it off — and the mission is no slam-dunk — the space telescope should be able to image galaxies back to 400 million years after the Big Bang.
Mostly correct! (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Was Hubble worth it? (Score:5, Insightful)
The fundamental problem with your statement is that you assume that the $$$ would otherwise have been used to change lives in a big positive way.
Put very simply, through science, we gain an understanding of the world, and universe around us, how it operates and how we can interact more effectively with it.
Re:Awesome! (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Hubble: Right answer to wrong question (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Was Hubble worth it? (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Awesome! (Score:4, Insightful)
The thing is, without coloration, we wouldn't be able to see the various structures. Astronomers probably would, being trained, but not us normal folk. Besides, who wants to look at dull greyscale when you can spice it up with some color? The aim of making the image easier to interpret is achieved, and it looks pretty too.
1.6 (Score:3, Insightful)
Designed as flawed? (Score:3, Insightful)
Or, to put it the other way, is this improvement actually 60% (still a lot!) over current situation, and the "90 times as powerful" is basically just bullshit hype?
Re:Bullcra (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Bullcra (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Was Hubble worth it? (Score:5, Insightful)
Now of course the direct link between Hubble telescope and daily applications is less obvious, but it did determine the Hubble constant (well a more accurate estimate) and determined that the expansion of the universe was accelerating... Now you can challenge the usefulness of these discoveries all you can, but I somehow believe that in the long run, understanding the physics that rule this universe will generate vastly more practical applications (and revenues) then the current (and already beaten) missile defense system...
In the long run we're all dead, but that doesn't mean we should focus solely on short term objectives (and I'm very very glad our ancestors didn't)/
Re:What Big Bang? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Hubble: Right answer to wrong question (Score:5, Insightful)
What you have not done, at all, in either of your posts here is offer a single reason that hubble is undeserving of these funds. Clearly, you think hubble is a wast of money. Clearly its a lot of money and other areas of research could benefit from getting it instead.
Re:Was Hubble worth it? (Score:3, Insightful)
"big positive way" doesn't necessarily equate to giving people handouts or curing diabetes. If all we ever spent our money on was egalitarianism, our lives would be so boring we wouldn't see the point. I'm very happy that money has been spent on hubble, and its findings never cease to excite me.
Re:Hubble: Right answer to wrong question (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm sure Max Planck would be quite amazed at what we've gotten done using the concept of quantum, even though it seemed to be little more than a mathematical trick when he first thought of it.
Re:Hubble: Right answer to wrong question (Score:5, Insightful)
In the end, less people get hurt, less people get really pissed of and we end up with better pictures.
Re:Hubble: Right answer to wrong question (Score:3, Insightful)
Now THAT is a colossal waste of money. Why would anyone give money to a bunch of teenagers when they are stupid enough to develop and release software for free? Besides. who gets to decide what is useful to develop and what isn't? What's useful for one may be a complete waste of time to someone else.
Software development shouldn't be a government welfare project - it has to be driven commercially.
Re:Hubble: Right answer to wrong question (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Hubble: Reminder about bloody pictures (Score:3, Insightful)
Most people don't care how or why a roses exist, it is enough that they are beautiful and fragrant and inspiring.
Re:Hubble: Right answer to wrong question (Score:4, Insightful)