How We Make Webb Images

How We Make Webb Images: Hubble is the most well-known space telescope. It was launch in 1990 and has since revolutionize our understanding of the universe. On January 4th, 2019, the Hubble Space Telescope will be shutter, ending its 25 year mission to provide images and scientific data from space. This article discusses how Webb, a successor to Hubble, will work and what it will offer for astronomers on earth.

What is an image?

Images are create through the use of light and dark elements. When light passes through a lens, it is focus into a single point. This point is then enlarge and projecte onto a screen or other surface. Images can be create by photographing objects with light or dark elements as the main focus, or by using special effects to create illusions.

How does the image appear on our screen?

In order to produce an image from the Hubble Space Telescope, a series of steps is necessary. The images are capture by a camera that is locate in the telescope’s focal plane. The camera takes a picture of a specific region of space and then sends that image to the telescope’s focuser which directs the light onto the photographic film. The film then captures an image of the space object that was photograph.

To create an image from Webb, all of these steps are currently digital. However, there is still a physical element to how Webb images are create-the imager itself. Webb’s imager has 8192 x 4096 pixels which equates to 0.8 arc minutes covering the full spectrum of visible light (from ultraviolet to infare). Each pixel can detect one photon per second, making it possible to capture high resolution images over extender periods of time without having to take multiple pictures.

Webb’s imager also has two mirrors that direct the light onto a sensor known as an array detector which allows for very high spatial resolution imaging. This technology allows us to see details down to about one billionth of a meter (~1/10th the thickness of a human hair).

How do we view images in general?

Images are a way to capture and store information. Images can be capture with cameras, or by using special lenses and mirrors to view the outside world as if someone is looking through a lens. When we look at an image, our brain interprets the different colors, shapes, and patterns to create a mental image of what’s in the picture.

There are many types of images that we use every day: photos of people, landscapes, buildings, animals. To take these images, we use cameras that have different types of lenses and sensors. Cameras can take still or moving pictures.

Still images are pictures that don’t move. They’re usually easier to work with because you can edit them before you share them with others. For example, you might take a picture of your friend and then edit it so that their face is in the center of the image instead of on the margins.

Moving images are pictures that sometimes move while they’re being taken (like when you’re video taping). They’re harder to work with because it’s hard to keep track of everything that’s happening during the video (for example, if someone moves while they’re talking). Plus, it’s harder to edit moving images than still ones because you can’t always predict where things will go next.

Optical Illusion?

One of the most amazing optical illusions is call the Ebbinghaus illusion. Name after German psychologist and philosopher Ernst Heinrich Ebbinghaus, it occurs when a person looks at a series of dots that gradually get smaller and smaller until they disappear. The brain interprets this as the dots getting closer together, even though they’re actually getting further apart.