Astronomers who win time using space telescopes typically have time when they can only see the resulting data. But the administrators of the telescope are planning to immediately make all information public.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST;
The James Webb Space Telescope is still working magnificently as it provides new views of the universe as the sun orbits. Meanwhile, back on Earth, the managers of this $10 billion fund were thinking about how to get the most bang for the buck for the taxpayer. They envision a big change in how telescope observations are shared, and that’s what astronomers are worried about. NPR’s Nell Greenfieldboyce has more.
NELL GREENFIELDBOYCE, BYLINE: For hundreds of years, astronomers who looked through telescopes at Earth made records of what they saw and kept them.
ERIC SMITH: In the beginning it was just hand-drawn, and then glass was made, and then film, in some cases, and finally magnetic tape. And it was a pattern that whoever went to the observatory brought those data back with them. And they, you know, just put them in their office, or put them in some vault of the university.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Eric Smith is in NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. He says that, these days, space telescopes send data back electronically so that it can be easily collected and shared with lots of people. Any scientist whose idea the James Webb Space Telescope points to a particular celestial object has exclusive access to those observations, but only for a year.
SMITH: And then after that, what becomes public information, he gave it to the public.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: Increasingly, however, the federal government is pushing for greater access to taxpayer-funded public research. NASA’s Smith says the new plan just went off the air.
SMITH: He says that all new missions should think about the use of exclusive time from the beginning.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: And he says that existing missions should work for that, if possible. Alessandra Aloisi is the head of the Science Mission Office at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which operates the James Webb Space Telescope. She says she is now surveying the astronomy community about whether to immediately make her observations public. This controversy
ALESSANDRA ALOISI: In both ways the feelings are strong.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: He says if the data is made public immediately, some anxiety can lead to a frenzy rushing to analyze it first, producing unqualified knowledge. Against…
ALOIS: Everyone who has a scientific idea can use it given to them. So that’s what’s going to happen – it’s been found to accelerate.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: He says it’s important for a telescope with a limited life. James Webb Space Telescope does not expect to last as long as Hubble. It is so far away that it cannot be repaired. However, people who suffered from expensive telescopes worked hard to make this process as beautiful as possible. And when it comes to fairness, people disagree about what this change might mean. Eilat Glikman is an astrologer at Middlebury College. He says the proposal to make one of these space telescopes is a lot of work. He remembers the first thing Hubble did.
EILAT GLIKMAN: I must have spent about two weeks in that time.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: A teacher’s workload means he has limited time to analyze the information he receives. And now, other teams are ready to seize the moment that becomes public. Worries if everything is available to everyone at once…
GLIKMAN: People who have the time, people who have the resources will be able to jump in and deflate the kind of – I don’t know – hardworking people who have earned this observation.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: But some say it could level the playing field, because astronomers who couldn’t get the program could go through a highly competitive selection process to use other people’s data to work out their different ideas. Jackie Faherty is an astrologer at the American Museum of Natural History.
JACKIE FAHERTY: I don’t think there’s a black and white reason to disagree on this topic.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: He loves open access as an opportunity to increase people’s ability to share science, but when he worked on the data telescope that was available very quickly, he didn’t want it at a fast pace.
FAHERTY: It imposes a surprising amount of pressure and mental gymnastics that you have to perform in doing your scientific work.
GREENFIELDBOYCE: For fear of a competitor beating you. He says that if things move to the telescope for immediate data sharing, perhaps people should request exclusive access for a period of time, such as if they are new to the field and need more time or if they have other life circumstances that seem to be difficult. to act hastily Nell Greenfieldboyce, NPR News.
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