{"id":14466,"date":"2017-07-15T17:43:47","date_gmt":"2017-07-15T09:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/jupiter-images-thrill-inspire-public-participation\/"},"modified":"2017-07-15T17:43:47","modified_gmt":"2017-07-15T09:43:47","slug":"jupiter-images-thrill-inspire-public-participation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/jupiter-images-thrill-inspire-public-participation\/","title":{"rendered":"Jupiter images thrill, inspire public participation"},"content":{"rendered":"

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION<\/p>\n

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A JunoCam view of Jupiter as processed by Se\u00e1n Doran, an artist who interprets imagery sent back from NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft. The image is based on earlier processing by Gerald Eichst\u00e4dt, using custom software. Credit: NASA\/SwRI\/MSSS\/Gerald Eichst\u00e4dt\/Se\u00e1n Doran<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Processing images from the camera aboard NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft orbiting Jupiter has turned into a cottage industry of sorts, as rank amateurs, accomplished artists and experienced researchers turn relatively drab \u201craw\u201d images into shots ranging from whimsical to spectacular and everything in between.<\/p>\n

The question is, how accurately do they reflect reality, and is there any way for the casual observer to judge the result?<\/p>\n

Unlike other NASA spacecraft, the JunoCam imager aboard the Juno spacecraft was added to the mission primarily for public outreach. Its pictures have no bearing on the mission\u2019s scientific objectives, which rely on a suite of eight other instruments to study Jupiter\u2019s interior structure, its gravity and magnetic fields and its immediate environment.<\/p>\n

JunoCam\u2019s images are only lightly processed by the camera\u2019s builder \u2014 Malin Space Science Systems of San Diego \u2014 and immediately posted on line. What happens after that is up to the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce it\u2019s in their hands, we have no control, nor do we want to exert any, over what they do with the data,\u201d said Candy Hansen, a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute and the JunoCam instrument lead. \u201cSo we have gotten everything from careful scientific-type processing to incredibly whimsical works of art. So it\u2019s a little bit, for you, a buyer-beware situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, she said, \u201cwe\u2019re all in, in the sense that I don\u2019t have a team of scientists and image processors waiting in the wings in case the public doesn\u2019t show up. We don\u2019t have a budget, we don\u2019t have staff or anything like that. So we are entirely, 100 percent, relying on the public. And some of them have done fabulous work.\u201d<\/p>\n

Juno is the first spacecraft to be sent into an orbit around Jupiter\u2019s poles, and JunoCam was designed primarily to capture detailed images of the planet\u2019s heretofore unseen polar regions.<\/p>\n

Because of weight, volume and power restrictions, the spacecraft could not support an advanced telescopic camera. Instead, it was equipped with a relatively simple imager with what amounts to a fish-eye lens. Malin Space Science Systems provided a similar camera to photograph the Curiosity rover\u2019s descent to Mars.<\/p>\n

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A storm on Jupiter, as processed by Gerald Eichst\u00e4dt and Damian Peach, compared to a raw image from NASA\u2019s Juno orbiter (inset lower right). Credit: NASA\/JPL\/SwRI\/MSSS\/Gerald Eichst\u00e4dt\/Damian Peach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While JunoCam is not as powerful as the sophisticated telescopes and sensors launched aboard other NASA probes, Juno\u2019s elliptical orbit carries it closer to Jupiter than any other spacecraft, within a few thousand miles of the giant planet\u2019s cloud tops. As a result, JunoCam\u2019s wide-angle views provide exceptional detail and more context than more powerful narrow-angle instruments.<\/p>\n

But how realistic are the public\u2019s interpretations of JunoCam images? With other NASA spacecraft, the viewer can have confidence the photos were processed and reviewed by scientifically competent team members and that the images reflect some sort of scientific reality.<\/p>\n

With public processing, as Hansen said, it\u2019s more a case of buyer beware, and the relatively bland raw images lend themselves to Photoshop-type manipulation. To Hansen, the line between a scientifically accurate image and one that takes liberties with the data is \u201cthe minute you depart from true color.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe minute you start making the blue a little bluer and the red a little redder, now you\u2019ve enhanced the color. And when you really go to the sort of wild ends of the color palette, then I would call it exaggerated. If you\u2019re just plain making up things, then it\u2019s false color.<\/p>\n

So should viewers wanting to learn more about Jupiter prefer realistic lighting and color to enhanced or exaggerated images?<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me argue against that,\u201d she said. \u201cOur human eye-brain combination is better at seeing details that are there when you exaggerate it a bit, when you enhance it a bit. The details, you can see (them) if you know what you\u2019re looking for in the true color images. But it\u2019s so subtle, it\u2019s really, like, washed out. I would say we learn a lot by looking at enhanced color images because it pops more to the eye-brain combo.\u201d<\/p>\n

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A fisheye JunoCam look at Jupiter and its Great Red Spot. Credit: NASA\/SwRI\/MSSS\/Gerald Eichst\u00e4dt\/Se\u00e1n Doran<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Raw images from JunoCam are posted on a website Hansen helps manage. Each raw image includes the same view shot in green, blue and red filters and then a slightly processed color view that is a combination of all three. The public can download those images, process them in a wide variety of ways and upload the results back to the website.<\/p>\n

As long as the processed images relate to Jupiter, and don\u2019t contain unrelated or objectionable material, they are re-posted and available for anyone to download. All are in the public domain, although uploaders can opt to restrict commercial usage.<\/p>\n

Hansen cited several processors for their work, including Bj\u00f6rn J\u00f3nsson, who she said goes to great lengths to ensure realistic lighting and color, and Se\u00e1n Doran, a graphic artist whose enhanced images are \u201cincredibly beautiful, they are drop-dead gorgeous.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gerald Eichst\u00e4dt, a mathematician and software developer, devised code to ensure uniform lighting across an image, Hansen said, adding \u201cI\u2019m urging him to write up an actual science paper and get some credit for all that work, at least in the scientific community.\u201d<\/p>\n

In an email exchange with CBS News, Doran said his images are based on Eichst\u00e4dt\u2019s work, adding \u201cmy aim is to provide an aesthetic enhancement to what he has done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI use a range of techniques in Photoshop to extract detail and enhance subtleties in the source image,\u201d he wrote. \u201cThis can develop into quite a large set of actions and layers each with different non-destructive adjustments and masks. These layers are treated with various blend modes to provide finer control in mixing toward the final image.<\/p>\n

\u201cI also use exposure settings to draw the eye and give volume to the image. Knowing when to stop is intuitive, and in some cases I will scrap what I have done and start again.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said he was \u201cinspired\u201d by the work of J\u00f6nsson and Justin Cowart, \u201cwhose images provide realistic renderings of Jupiter. Their work is beautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last Monday, Juno flew over Jupiter\u2019s Great Red Spot for the first time, a highly anticipated event. The Great Red Spot is the largest, most powerful storm in the solar system, stretching more than 10,000 miles across. Within minutes of the first raw images being posted, image processors around the world began uploading their interpretations.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople must have been just sitting there waiting with Photoshop open!\u201d Hansen laughed. \u201cWithin 45 minutes, I already had a queue to approve. This has really been fun.\u201d<\/p>\n

Said Doran: \u201cWe are only at the start of coming to grips with this data, and in time I expect to see very many beautiful and harmonious treatments.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS & USED WITH PERMISSION A JunoCam view of Jupiter as processed by Se\u00e1n Doran, an artist who interprets imagery sent back from NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft. The image is based on earlier processing by Gerald Eichst\u00e4dt, using custom software. Credit: NASA\/SwRI\/MSSS\/Gerald Eichst\u00e4dt\/Se\u00e1n Doran Processing images from the camera aboard NASA\u2019s Juno spacecraft orbiting […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3246,1183,1929,2522,1606,472,3247],"class_list":["post-14466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-crowd-sourcing","tag-jet-propulsion-laboratory","tag-juno","tag-junocam","tag-jupiter","tag-lockheed-martin","tag-malin-space-science-systems"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14466"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14466\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}