Posted on Feb 7, 2023
What's the fairest way to share cosmic views from Hubble and James Webb telescopes?
403
10
2
4
4
0
https://www.npr.org/2023/02/07/ [login to see] /whats-the-fairest-way-to-share-cosmic-views-from-hubble-and-james-webb-telescope
The managers of the James Webb Space Telescope are considering a big change in how its observations get shared, one that could have a major impact on the science that gets done — and on who gets to do it.
As it stands now, if an astronomer makes a proposal for where to point this $10 billion space telescope, and the proposal gets accepted, that scientist usually has a year of exclusive access to the resulting observations.
Now, though, with the federal government pushing for more taxpayer-funded research to be made public instantly, telescope managers are pondering whether all of the data collected by JWST should be available to everyone right away.
They're considering a similar change for the venerable Hubble Space Telescope. Currently, scientists who get a chance to use that instrument generally enjoy six months of exclusive access to their observations.
Proponents of open access say that sharing all of these space telescopes' findings immediately could accelerate new discoveries and maximize the return from these powerful scientific assets.
The managers of the James Webb Space Telescope are considering a big change in how its observations get shared, one that could have a major impact on the science that gets done — and on who gets to do it.
As it stands now, if an astronomer makes a proposal for where to point this $10 billion space telescope, and the proposal gets accepted, that scientist usually has a year of exclusive access to the resulting observations.
Now, though, with the federal government pushing for more taxpayer-funded research to be made public instantly, telescope managers are pondering whether all of the data collected by JWST should be available to everyone right away.
They're considering a similar change for the venerable Hubble Space Telescope. Currently, scientists who get a chance to use that instrument generally enjoy six months of exclusive access to their observations.
Proponents of open access say that sharing all of these space telescopes' findings immediately could accelerate new discoveries and maximize the return from these powerful scientific assets.
What's the fairest way to share cosmic views from Hubble and James Webb telescopes?
Posted from npr.org
Science
Space
Astronomy
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 2
3
3
0
Ninety Nice percent or more of John Q Public, like myself, look at those photos in awe and really have no clue about discovering anything unique, they are just so wonderously beautiful. If they are Tax Dollar funded I can't comprehend why a Scientist should get a Year to be the only one to see that particular photo, even 6 months to me seems a rather long time to be exclusive.
(3)
(0)
1
1
0
PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Centuries of tradition
Astronomers have turned their telescopes to the skies for hundreds of years. Traditionally, they decided how and when to share their records of what they'd seen.
"The data really were more or less owned by the person who came up with the idea to take the observations in the first place," says Eric Smith, associate director for research at the astrophysics division of NASA's science mission directorate in Washington, DC.
An astronomer who used a ground telescope physically possessed their records.
"Originally it was just hand drawings, and then it became glass plates, and then it was film in some cases, and eventually it was magnetic tapes," explains Smith. "Whoever went to the observatory took those data home with them — and they just put them in their office or they put them in some university vault."
The advent of the space age meant that telescopes would beam data back to Earth electronically. That meant it could potentially be made widely available, all at once.
And because these were expensive, taxpayer-funded telescopes, says Smith, "we weren't going to go with the old model where you got to keep your data in your office forever."
But tradition wasn't completely abandoned. The practice that started with Hubble was that astronomers who won time on the telescope were given funding plus a certain period of exclusive access to their observations.
"And then after that, it becomes public information because the public paid for it," says Smith. "...
..."Centuries of tradition
Astronomers have turned their telescopes to the skies for hundreds of years. Traditionally, they decided how and when to share their records of what they'd seen.
"The data really were more or less owned by the person who came up with the idea to take the observations in the first place," says Eric Smith, associate director for research at the astrophysics division of NASA's science mission directorate in Washington, DC.
An astronomer who used a ground telescope physically possessed their records.
"Originally it was just hand drawings, and then it became glass plates, and then it was film in some cases, and eventually it was magnetic tapes," explains Smith. "Whoever went to the observatory took those data home with them — and they just put them in their office or they put them in some university vault."
The advent of the space age meant that telescopes would beam data back to Earth electronically. That meant it could potentially be made widely available, all at once.
And because these were expensive, taxpayer-funded telescopes, says Smith, "we weren't going to go with the old model where you got to keep your data in your office forever."
But tradition wasn't completely abandoned. The practice that started with Hubble was that astronomers who won time on the telescope were given funding plus a certain period of exclusive access to their observations.
"And then after that, it becomes public information because the public paid for it," says Smith. "...
(1)
(0)
Read This Next
Continue with Facebook 
Continue with Google