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| ||||| Thursday, March 07, 2002 - 10:03 pm I was wondering when will the first picture be taken. and what will they be of? | |
| ||||| Friday, March 08, 2002 - 02:39 pm If the new equipment was used to look on Earth, what would be the smallest thing it would see? James from England. | |
| ||||| Friday, March 08, 2002 - 04:01 pm Entity The reporters asked that question to Dr. Ed Cheng, HST Project Scientist during the press conference this morning. He said that while they have several targets chosen, they won't know which one will get picked until the last moment. | |
| ||||| Friday, March 08, 2002 - 09:04 pm Will the new optics that will be installed on this mission show a clearer view of Pluto. | |
| ||||| Friday, March 08, 2002 - 09:59 pm 5{ Camera will take about 9.5 weeks to fully align. Also, it will take a month for NICMOS to chill. to Philip, Hubble cannot look at the Earth, it is too close to focus. It would be like trying to read your computer screen with binoculars. DNA | |
| ||||| Friday, March 08, 2002 - 10:01 pm That's supposed to say "The Advanced Camera ... " I don't know where the 5{ came from. | |
| ||||| Friday, March 08, 2002 - 10:08 pm Yes, Mike. The higher resolution of the ACS would allow modest improvements in the view of Pluto. | |
| ||||| Friday, March 08, 2002 - 10:24 pm Old Codger, actually, the resolution of ACS is better than most, but the resolution of FOC was actually higher. The big advantage ACS has is that the detectors and coatings are highly superior. The images taken by HST in the past of Pluto have been FOC images. A couple of the best are: http://hubblesite.org/news_.and._views/pr.cgi.1996+09 and http://hubblesite.org/news_.and._views/pr.cgi.1996+09 ACS is primarily a survey instrument, so it is optimized for larger fields of view, FOC was optimized for precise small targets. | |
| ||||| Friday, March 08, 2002 - 10:25 pm Old codger, as a metrics convert, I am somewhat at a loss regarding the value of "modest". Would the improvement in observing venus, saturn, and neptune be more or less modest. What happened to the 10 fold improvement that Dr.Cheng told us about during today's pressw conference. | |
| ||||| Friday, March 08, 2002 - 10:41 pm Dick, It is important to realize that the performance of an instrument is not contained in a single parameter. The ACS offers a better resolution than the WFPC2, with much better sensitivity (Quantum Efficiency). The factor of 10 comes from "twice the resolution, 5 times better sensitivity". This is where the 10 comes from. For large targets like Venus and Saturn, the resolution gain will be the most important since they are bright and close. For distant targets the sensitivity gain is the most important. The resolution is not as high as FOC, but the improvements in sensitivity and dynamic range are enormous. No instrument does everything better than everything else. | |
| ||||| Friday, March 08, 2002 - 10:49 pm I have been following this mission and would like to know when the new pictures will be avaiable on the web. Will there be a site I will be able to view via webcam? I really want to commend you all on a job well done and thank you all for the way you make us feel safe in the US. | |
| ||||| Friday, March 08, 2002 - 11:16 pm Thank you Dave for clarifying, what was previously, very confusing to me. I am now more aware of the communications problems that can occur with inapproptiate use of measures that are not defined in terms that can be understood. I understand completely the concept of ACS being 2X the resolution and 5X the sensitivity of WFPC2. I almost grasp the concept that ACS resolution may be less than that of the FOC, even though I do not know how much less. However an ACS improvement in sensitivity and dynamic range as enormous boggles my mind. | |
| ||||| Friday, March 08, 2002 - 11:32 pm Dick, The detector system for FOC is completely different from ACS, so numbers aren't good descriptors. FOC is 1980ish technology. Think of video cameras from 1980 vs those from 2001. That's enormous. | |
| ||||| Monday, March 11, 2002 - 01:28 pm Dave, Sorry for the confusion. I was thinking of WFPC when I compared resolution of the ACS. | |
| ||||| Thursday, March 14, 2002 - 04:38 am It is fun to read these discussions. They seem to be the product of intelligent people with kindness in mind. Thanks | |
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