All of These Space Images are Fake Except One
Explanation:
Why would you want to fake a universe?
For one reason -- to better understand
our real universe.
Many
astronomical projects
seeking to learn properties of our universe now start with a
robotic telescope
taking sequential images of the night sky.
Next, sophisticated
computer algorithms
crunch these digital images to find
stars
and
galaxies and measure their properties.
To calibrate these algorithms, it is useful to test them on
fake
images from a
fake universe
to see if the algorithms can correctly deduce purposely imprinted properties.
The featured mosaic of fake images was created to
specifically mimic the images that have appeared on
NASA's
Astronomy Picture of the Day
(APOD).
Only one image of the 225 images is real -- can you find
it?
The accomplished deceptors have made available individual
fake APOD images that can be displayed by accessing their
ThisIsNotAnAPOD webpage
or Twitter feed.
More useful for calibrating and understanding our
distant universe, however, are fake galaxies --
a sampling of which can be seen at their
ThisIsNotAGalaxy webpage.
Astrophysicists:
Browse 2,600+ codes in the Astrophysics Source Code Library
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
