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Math to Crack Deep Impact Blurry Vision Problem

starexplorer writes "NASA announced that they believe they have a solution for the Deep Impact mission's blurry vision problem: math. Although the craft will still snap blurry pictures of the Tempel-1 comet, mathmetical manipulation will help scientists clear up the images once they make their way back to Earth. A special report and viewing guide are also available at SPACE.com."

15 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. OT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    using the same words, i made a much better headline.

    "blurry vision math to impact deep crack problem"

  2. i know about this by Neotrantor · · Score: 4, Informative

    it's a process called deconvolution, right? I did this as a project for sophomore year astronomy... which i believe involved asking on slashdot about it.

    1. Re:i know about this by Karzz1 · · Score: 5, Informative

      For anyone really interested in the math at work here, check out this page.

      --
      Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.
  3. Hmm... by iamdrscience · · Score: 4, Funny

    Math in space you say? What will they think of next?!

  4. Re:Blurry vision causes: by Karzz1 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Whiskey. Tango. Foxtrot. Dude.

    --
    Beware of he who would deny you access to information, for in his heart he dreams himself your master.
  5. Technical description of the fix: by LiquidCoooled · · Score: 4, Funny

    Tilt your head to the side and Squint a bit!

    --
    liqbase :: faster than paper
  6. Re:You're both right. by wass · · Score: 4, Informative

    No, the parent is correct. Before the COSTAR correctional optics package was launched to fix Hubble's spherical aberation problem, NASA engineers were able to digitally de-convolve the aberations out of the image. The digitally-manipulated results weren't as good as the ones COSTAR optics eventually offered, but they did help some initial observing runs.

    --

    make world, not war

  7. That's only because they're all math nerds. by lheal · · Score: 4, Funny

    If NASA were smart and hired poets, they would just look at the blurry images and say, "Interesting".

    --
    Raise your children as if you were teaching them to raise your grandchildren, because you are.
  8. Re:Don't believe everything NASA spews by RaySnake · · Score: 5, Informative

    All right, I know I shouldn't be replying to flamebait but here goes.

    It is in fact possible to at least partially reconstruct blurry images as long as you have some idea about what kind of distortion or motion is causing your problems. In some cases you can get useable information without even knowing exactly what your problem was! Don't take my word for it, look up "blind deconvolution" in your favorite image processing textbook or just use google.

    If you're an IEEE member there is an interesting tutorial entitled "Image Deblurring: I Can See Clearly Now" by James Nagy and Dianne O'Leary. In addition to this a real world applications in motion deblurring can be seen here http://www1.cs.columbia.edu/CAVE/research/demos/ne w/motiondeblur.html/
    The problem may not be identical to NASA's problem but the mathematical deconvolution techniques are the same.

    I realize you just want some attention but a small sense of disbelief is in order since many new developments in the sciences are pretty indistinguishable from magic at first glance.

  9. We're all going to die. by Chris+Snook · · Score: 5, Funny

    Years ago I tried to warn people that Tempel 1 was an alien monitoring post, and that it we needed to study it to discover their origins so we could be vigilant for their return. I was locked up for years. Now that I've escaped I find that they're smashing a rocket into it! While this at least proves I wasn't crazy, it's not going to help anything. Any civilization that has the technology to maintain a link to an outpost in a remote star system without it being detected by civilian scientists probably has the ability to defend itself against what it would probably perceive as aggression. While I'd like to believe that their advances have made them peaceful and even merciful, recent events on Earth suggest that the best we can hope for is millenia of enslavement.

    --
    There's no failure quite as dissatisfying as a complete and total solution to the wrong problem.
  10. Wow that's a lot of acceleration by complete+loony · · Score: 4, Funny

    "The table-sized, 820-pound (372-kilogram) impactor is scheduled to smash into the comet's nucleus at 23,000 mph (37,000 kilometers) per hour"

    --
    09F91102 no, 455FE104 nope, F190A1E8 uh-uh, 7A5F8A09 that's not it, C87294CE no. Ah! 452F6E403CDF10714E41DFAA257D313F.
  11. Just use that program they use on CSI! by Andyvan · · Score: 5, Funny

    They're always able to make blurry photographs sharp, and it only takes about 10 seconds...

    -- Andyvan

  12. This is so old hat... by Isldeur · · Score: 4, Funny


    Oh give it up. This is so OLD. I've seen this "picture enhancement" being used in the movies all the time. You know, when there's this blurry picture and then suddenly it's "enhanced" and is crystal-clear?

    Or on that Alias documentary where the CIA didn't have an audio feed so they had this program that would decipher words by lip reading at this obscene angle from a camera on the ceiling?? This stuff is so easy these days...

    You'd think NASA would have this down pat... Maybe it's the budget cuts...

  13. Re:I saw a photoshop plugin that will do similar by onemorechip · · Score: 5, Funny
    The sample photos were either of gorillas or pandas.

    If you couldn't tell, then it must not have worked very well.

    --
    But, I wanted socialized health insurance!
  14. In related news... by Lisandro · · Score: 4, Informative

    ... witty scientists have found out math can also be used to design stuff, balance your checkbook, convert inches to meters and other everyday problems unsolvable without its magic!

    PS: As others pointed out, deconvolution (which is the process used here) is not a new concept. Far from it, in fact.