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Hubble Space Telescope Mirror
(With Cautionary Message)

HST Mirror

If such a cautionary message were to have been placed on a telescope's mirror, it would never show up in the images produced by that telescope. The idea, rather, is that our knowledge of the distances to remote astronomical objects is based on theory, which at times can be fickle.

See Robert Britt's SPACE.COM article: Hubble Pictures Too Crisp, Challenging Theories of Time and Space. The current conclusion is that quantum theory might be in trouble, because the light from really distant objects hasn't fuzzied up like it's supposed to. Another idea to ponder would be that the objects are much closer than we think.

Thanks to William R. (Bill) Fox, of Starkville, MS, for the idea of a spoof that shows the "things are closer" caution notice on a telescope mirror.

Installed on 15 Jul 2007. Latest Update 17 Jul 2007.
Shade Tree Physics