Monday, November 10, 2014

WYSIWG - Cat's Eye Nebula

Cat's Eye Nebula. Sharpened Hubble image.
Image Credit: NASA, ESA, HEIC, and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)
WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get - is only part of the picture.

IDWIL - It Depends on Who Is Looking!

Galileo Galilei made his own telescope fitting his eye sight. The men of church who dared to look at the same optical instrument did not necessarily see what he did because the lenses made by Galileo may have not given them clear view. Definitely, their sight was also affected by strong brain waves of how the world must look like according to the Bible and true religion.

There probably were many who made those simple telescopes invented at the beginning of the 17th century in Netherlands. But they did not understand what they saw.

The spectacular photograph from the wonderful APOD page is Astrophotography in all its glory. It gives today's astronomers a previously unimaginable amount of detailed information thanks to the astronomically expensive instrument, the Hubble space telescope.

Light is what we have and in this way scientists are making the most of it, enhancing color shades, sharpening details, focusing and pasting images over each other. The techniques are manifold.

Imagine, if a man or woman with Galileo's open eyes and open mind would have a chance to look at that image!

WYSIWYG indeed, with the note of IDWIL.

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