Near or far? Do we see what we see? / Dietmar Hager (AT), Photo: Dietmar Hager

Near or far? Do we see what we see?

Dietmar Hager (AT)

Ars Electronica Center, Deep Space 8K
Wed 6. Sep 2023 16:00 – 16:30

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Who doesn’t know them by now: the aging Hubble Space Telescope (HST), the state-of-the-art JWST – James Webb Space Telescope and other, earthbound telescopes. They all give us glimpses into the depths of space. From Earth, astro-photographers painstakingly create photos of distant galaxies over hours, days and weeks of work, bringing them into people’s living rooms. Astro-photographers build a bridge over countless light years to regions of the universe whose distance we usually cannot even imagine.

We see images that often leave us wondering: Is the object shown near or far? Or is everything just far away anyway and what difference does it make if there are a few million light years more or less in between? Or is what we see there just a construct of our human technology and our own imagination? Reality is what our brain makes of what we see, and sometimes this reality lies outside what we call thinking.

Please note: Limited capacity, Registration required – in addition to a valid ticket, you need a (free) ticket reservation for the respective event in advance. Reservations for Deep Space 8K events must be scanned on-site no later than 15min before the programme starts.

Language: English

Dietmar Hager (AT)

Dietmar works as an orthopedic-trauma surgeon, specialized in hand- and microsurgery. When stowing away the microscope in the OR, he steps into his private astronomical observatory, devoting time to astrophotography, publicizing his work at NASA. As an ESO Outreach Ambassador, as well as a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, he enthusiastically speaks about the starry night skies.