The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) orbits our Sun, circling Lagrange Point L2. The first JWST images were released on July 11, 2022, and it didn’t take too long (one day) before some people were accusing NASA of fakery.
In a way, it is hard to blame people for being confused. The JWST images are taken in infrared and near-infrared, light wavelengths that humans cannot see. Yet the images that are released to the public come out in brilliant colors. It did not help when, on July 31, a French scientist posted a photo that he said was of Proxima Centauri that turned out to be a photo of a slice of chorizo. So what’s going on here?
The Webb team includes a group of image developers who take the raw data and turn it into color pictures. To do this, they assign different infrared light wavelengths to different colors on the visible spectrum, turning unseeable images into vibrant pictures. Joe DePasquale, one of the image developers, says “Something I’ve been trying to change people’s minds about is to stop getting hung up on the idea of ‘is this what this would look like if I could fly out there in a spaceship and look at it?’ ”
So, the next time you hear someone calling the JWST photos fake, you can gently set them straight!
Reference:
- Are the Colors in Webb Telescope Images ‘Fake’?
- Conspiracy theorists insist Nasa’s Webb Telescope images are fakes
- French Scientist Uses a Photo of Spanish Chorizo and Jokes About James Webb Space Telescope Finding a Red Giant Star in Another Planet
- James Webb Space Telescope
- Lagrange point L2
- See the First Full-Color Images From Webb Space Telescope
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THIS WEEK IN STAR TREK HISTORY
13 August
1944 – Kevin Tighe is born.
1961 – Dawnn Lewis is born.
1999 – Charles Macaulay dies.
2006 – Tony Jay dies.
14 August
1953 – James Horner is born.
1965 – Brannon Braga is born.
15 August
1933 – Bjo Trimble is born.
1943 – Barbara Bouchet is born.
16 August
1933 – Julie Newmar is born.
1939 – Maurice Hurley is born.
2002 – Jeff Corey dies.
2009 – Ed Reimers dies. (click for photo)
2012 – William Windom dies.
17 August
1930 – Harve Bennett is born.
1933 – Glenn Corbett is born.
1968 – Andrew Koenig is born.
2015 – Yvonne Craig dies.
2021 – Eddie Paskey dies.
18 August
1969 – Christian Slater is born.
1998 – Persis Khambatta dies.
2020 – Ben Cross dies.
19 August
1921 – Gene Roddenberry is born.
1924 – William Marshall is born.
1938 – Diana Muldaur is born.
1943 – Robert Blackman is born.
1952 – Jonathan Frakes is born.
TODAY’S HUMOR
The United Federation Starfleet Blog is written by Captain Hal Jordan and is published every Friday. Join in the discussion! Engage with us on Discord at: discord.io/ufstarfleet
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