More "artistic" space images appearing in the media (Earth, light)
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We are getting more and more images from space with artistic items placed inside the frame which are not really there but are added later. We are becoming dumbed down to accepting anything which is presented to us and we, the public, should be aware of misinformation. Real news footage is interspersed with altered footage and the boundaries become blurred. For example, whenever we see a spacecraft in the shot, we have to ask ourselves what is taking that photograph? What is out there in space at the same time as this spacecraft or...is it an artistic fabrication by the media.
Photos such as this one illustrate what I mean. The background maybe a real photograph, but because the foreground shows a spacecraft, we cannot be really sure the background is real either. Often there are no explanations along with the image which is either because it is not known or because we are expected to accept the photo as real.
This NASA picture discussed previously in another thread is supposed to show Earth in an image taken by Voyager-I and stated that Earth is about an eighth of a pixel (0.12 pixels) in size. How do you get LESS than a pixel showing on a digital image made up of pixels? These pixels are often clumped together or binned to make the image brighter. How do we know this is Earth? It is nice to romantically think this is our rock shown from 4 million miles away in space, but how do we really KNOW? For me, but I am sure not for you guys, this raises questions about the source publishing these types of images.
Quote:
This narrow-angle color image of the Earth, dubbed 'Pale Blue Dot', is a part of the first ever 'portrait' of the solar system taken by Voyager 1. The spacecraft acquired a total of 60 frames for a mosaic of the solar system from a distance of more than 4 billion miles from Earth and about 32 degrees above the ecliptic.
From Voyager's great distance Earth is a mere point of light, less than the size of a picture element even in the narrow-angle camera. Earth was a crescent only 0.12 pixel in size. Coincidentally, Earth lies right in the center of one of the scattered light rays resulting from taking the image so close to the sun.
Coincidentally, yes, how convenient. A spacecraft is 4 million miles away from Earth, and it just happens to capture in a photograph, the one planetry body which matters to us in the centre of a scattered light ray from the sun. Call me cynical.
That's only one tiny example of yes, a general problem. With technology advances in graphics, we can create any kind of false "reality". But even that's a piece of yet another, much greater issue: false or misleading information posed as reality. With nearly anything on the internet, you have to pause and investigate (hold off on acceptance) and check what you're really seeing or reading first, and even then, must proceed with caution. Most never even consider that - never let that concept register in their brains - let alone attempt to rise above it or move beyond it.
Better to think on your own, and be separated from all of it (i.e. mass media), then mingle with it. And yes, that's a perfectly healthy solution. It's only in rare circumstances, such as this forum, where we rely on words and thoughts like in the good old days, that can we distill matters down to their core without interference. This is a dying breed of an outlet.
We are getting more and more images from space with artistic items placed inside the frame which are not really there but are added later. We are becoming dumbed down to accepting anything which is presented to us and we, the public, should be aware of misinformation. Real news footage is interspersed with altered footage and the boundaries become blurred. For example, whenever we see a spacecraft in the shot, we have to ask ourselves what is taking that photograph? What is out there in space at the same time as this spacecraft or...is it an artistic fabrication by the media.
Photos such as this one illustrate what I mean. The background maybe a real photograph, but because the foreground shows a spacecraft, we cannot be really sure the background is real either. Often there are no explanations along with the image which is either because it is not known or because we are expected to accept the photo as real.
This NASA picture discussed previously in another thread is supposed to show Earth in an image taken by Voyager-I and stated that Earth is about an eighth of a pixel (0.12 pixels) in size. How do you get LESS than a pixel showing on a digital image made up of pixels? These pixels are often clumped together or binned to make the image brighter. How do we know this is Earth? It is nice to romantically think this is our rock shown from 4 million miles away in space, but how do we really KNOW? For me, but I am sure not for you guys, this raises questions about the source publishing these types of images.
Coincidentally, yes, how convenient. A spacecraft is 4 million miles away from Earth, and it just happens to capture in a photograph, the one planetry body which matters to us in the centre of a scattered light ray from the sun. Call me cynical.
Four billion miles, not four million. The pale blue dot picture was taken in 1990 when voyager deliberately turned its cameras toward earth. And according to Candice Hansen-Koharcheck who was the first person to notice the speck that is earth in the picture, the earth in that picture is two to three pixels in size.
''Finally, she found it.
"It was just a little dot, about two pixels big, three pixels big," she says. "So not very large."
But this was the Earth — seen as no human had ever seen it before.''
. A spacecraft is 4 million miles away from Earth, and it just happens to capture in a photograph, the one planetry body which matters to us in the centre of a scattered light ray from the sun
If you asked me, they probably wanted to bring attention to the program or to NASA and that's how their funding continues - because NASA is the Public Relations arm of the space industry.
Four billion miles, not four million. The pale blue dot picture was taken in 1990 when voyager deliberately turned its cameras toward earth. And according to Candice Hansen-Koharcheck who was the first person to notice the speck that is earth in the picture, the earth in that picture is two to three pixels in size.
''Finally, she found it.
"It was just a little dot, about two pixels big, three pixels big," she says. "So not very large."
But this was the Earth — seen as no human had ever seen it before.''
Interesting to read how long Carl Sagan lobbied to get this picture taken. This was not just some arbitrary photo taken and let's just call that speck Earth, nor was it by dumb luck that it just happened to catch the Earth in the frame. So, yeah, they knew where Earth was, they aimed the camera. They had the shot, there was no danger, so they took it.
Last edited by PanTerra; 09-12-2020 at 11:51 AM..
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