ترغب بنشر مسار تعليمي؟ اضغط هنا

Aesthetics and Astronomy: Studying the publics perception and understanding of non-traditional imagery from space

109   0   0.0 ( 0 )
 نشر من قبل Randall Smith
 تاريخ النشر 2010
  مجال البحث فيزياء
والبحث باللغة English




اسأل ChatGPT حول البحث

Some 400 years after Galileo, modern telescopes have enabled humanity to see what the natural eye cannot. Astronomical images today contain information about incredibly large objects located across vast distances and reveal information found in invisible radiation ranging from radio waves to X-rays. The current generation of telescopes has created an explosion of images available for the public to explore. This has, importantly, coincided with the maturation of the Internet. Every major telescope has a web site, often with an extensive gallery of images. New and free downloadable tools exist for members of the public to explore astronomical data and even create their own images. In short, a new era of an accessible universe has been entered, in which the public can participate and explore like never before. But there is a severe lack of scholarly and robust studies to probe how people - especially non-experts - perceive these images and the information they attempt to convey. Most astronomical images for the public have been processed (e.g., color choices, artifact removal, smoothing, cropping/field-of-view shown) to strike a balance between the science being highlighted and the aesthetics designed to engage the public. However, the extent to which these choices affect perception and comprehension is, at best, poorly understood. The goal of the studies presented here was to begin a program of research to better understand how people perceive astronomical images, and how such images, and the explanatory material that accompanies them, can best be presented to the public in terms of understanding, appreciation, and enjoyment of the images and the science that underlies them.



قيم البحث

اقرأ أيضاً

195 - Michael J. West 2009
Societys view of astronomers has changed over time and from culture to culture. This review discusses some of the many ways that astronomers have been perceived by their societies and suggests ways that astronomers can influence public perception of ourselves and our profession in the future.
Studies on extraterrestrial civilisations in Russia date back to the end of the 19th century. The modern period of SETI studies began in the USSR in the early 1960s. The first edition of the I.S. Shklovskys book {it Universe, Life, Intelligence} publ ished in 1962 was a founding stone of SETI research in the USSR. A number of observational projects in radio and optical domains were conducted in the 1960s - 1990s. Theoretical studies focused on defining optimal spectral domains for search of artificial electromagnetic signals, selection of celestial targets in search for ETI, optimal methods for encoding and decoding of interstellar messages, estimating the magnitude of astro-engineering activity of ETI, and developing philosophical background of the SETI problem. Later, in the 1990s and in the first two decades of the 21st century, in spite of acute underfunding and other problems facing the scientific community in Russia and other countries of the former Soviet Union, SETI-oriented research continued. In particular, SETI collaborations conducted a number of surveys of Sun-like stars in the Milky Way, searched for Dyson spheres and artificial optical signals. Several space broadcasting programs were conducted too, including a radio transmission toward selected stars. Serious rethinking was given to incentives for passive and active participation of space civilisations in SETI and CETI. This paper gives an overview of past SETI activities. It also gives a comprehensive list of publications by authors from Russia, the Soviet Union and the post-Soviet space, as well as some SETI publications by other authors. The rich heritage of SETI research presented in the paper might offer a potentially useful background and starting point for developing strategy and specific research programs of the near future.
We discuss some of the key science questions that are bringing particle physicists and astrophysicists together, and comment on some of the cultural and funding issues that have arisen as these two communities become increasingly intertwined.
The development of astronomy and space science in Africa has grown significantly over the past few years. These advancements make the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals more achievable, and open up the possibility of new beneficial collaborations.
For the first time in history, humans have reached the point where it is possible to construct a revolutionary space-based observatory that has the capability to find dozens of Earth-like worlds, and possibly some with signs of life. This same telesc ope, designed as a long-lived facility, would also produce transformational scientific advances in every area of astronomy and astrophysics from black hole physics to galaxy formation, from star and planet formation to the origins of the Solar System. The Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) commissioned a study on a next-generation UVOIR space observatory with the highest possible scientific impact in the era following JWST. This community-based study focuses on the future space-based options for UV and optical astronomy that significantly advance our understanding of the origin and evolution of the cosmos and the life within it. The committee concludes that a space telescope equipped with a 12-meter class primary mirror can find and characterize dozens of Earth-like planets and make fundamental advances across nearly all fields of astrophysics. The concept is called the High Definition Space Telescope (HDST). The telescope would be located at the Sun-Earth L2 point and would cover a spectral range that, at a minimum, runs from 0.1 to 2 microns. Unlike JWST, HDST will not need to operate at cryogenic temperatures. HDST can be made to be serviceable on orbit but does not require servicing to complete its primary scientific objectives. We present the scientific and technical requirements for HDST and show that it could allow us to determine whether or not life is common outside the Solar System. We do not propose a specific design for such a telescope, but show that designing, building and funding such a facility is feasible beginning in the next decade - if the necessary strategic investments in technology begin now.
التعليقات
جاري جلب التعليقات جاري جلب التعليقات
سجل دخول لتتمكن من متابعة معايير البحث التي قمت باختيارها
mircosoft-partner

هل ترغب بارسال اشعارات عن اخر التحديثات في شمرا-اكاديميا