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ppaattrriicckk | 2 years ago

In case I'm not the only one a tad confused about this (awkward) sentence:

> JWST looked at TRAPPIST-1 in mid-infrared wavelengths of light — 20 times redder than the human eye can see

What's referred to here, in terms of wavelengths, is the range 4.9 to 27.9 μm according to https://jwst-docs.stsci.edu/jwst-mid-infrared-instrument. The longest human eyes can see is around 0.75 μm, so I guess that's where the notion of "20 times redder" comes from

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blincoln|2 years ago

Thank you. It was an extremely confusing statement.

I would have gone with something like "a wavelength about 7 to 40 times longer than the longest wavelength human eyes can perceive", or "longer wavelengths than a night vision scope picks up, but shorter than most thermal imagers capture or microwave ovens emit". But really, it might make more sense to have just omitted everything after "mid-infrared wavelengths of light". Kind of like the unnecessary use earlier in the article of both parsecs and light-years. Just go with light-years IMO.