this post was submitted on 12 Sep 2023
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I suppose you're right, not sure why I thought it was flipped rather than just rotated. I also assumed for some reason op was a new JWST photo, but both are Hubble.
So is it just Hubble floating at a different angle resulting in images at different rotations?
Well, not a different angle exactly, but spinned a different orientation. It would be.. well.. rotated.
Since there is no friction in vacuum, spacecraft usually use reaction wheels to keep their orientation stable relative to a point together with thrusters to release built up angular momentum.
But basically, in space, it's very easy to rotate due to no friction, so taking images at different orientations is very easy to do without further corrections. ..or one could just digitally rotate stuff. It's just artistic choice more than anything.
I think this must be it. I guess we're generally presented with images always facing the same way to help with recognisability of the objects, but someone seems to have made the choice not to this time, for whatever reason. And here I am imagining all sorts of space nonsense, when it's such a mundane explanation.. 😂
Yeah haha, not everything in space has to be complicated!