What is "first light"

n. dawn; sunrise; the moment at which the sun can first be seen on the horizon.

n. the first light of day; "we got up before dawn"; "they talked until morning" [syn: dawn, dawning, morning, aurora, daybreak, break of day, break of the day, dayspring, sunrise, sunup, cockcrow] [ant: sunset]

In astronomy, first light is the first use of a telescope (or, in general, a new instrument) to take an astronomical image after it has been constructed. This is often not the first viewing using the telescope; optical tests will probably have been performed during daylight to adjust the components. The first light image is normally of little scientific interest and is of poor quality since the various telescope elements are yet to be adjusted for optimum efficiency. Despite this, a first light is always a moment of great excitement, both for the people who design and build the telescope and for the astronomical community, who may have anticipated the moment for many years while the telescope was under construction. A well-known and spectacular astronomical object is usually chosen as a subject.

For example, the 200-inch Hale Telescope saw first light January 26, 1949, targeting NGC 2261 under the direction of American astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble. The image was published in many magazines and is available on Caltech Archives.

The Isaac Newton Telescope had two first lights: one in England in 1965 with its original mirror, and another in 1984 at La Palma island. The second first light was done with a video camera that showed the Crab Pulsar flashing.

The Large Binocular Telescope had its first light with a single primary mirror on October 12, 2005, which was a view of NGC 891. The second primary mirror was installed in January 2006 and became fully operational in January 2008.

The 10.4 m Gran Telescopio Canarias had a first light image of Tycho 1205081 on 14 July 2007.

IRIS solar space observatory achieved first light on July 17, 2013. The PI noted, "The quality of images and spectra we are receiving from IRIS is amazing. This is just what we were hoping for ..."

First Light is the fourth album by folk rock duo Richard and Linda Thompson. It was released in 1978 on Chrysalis Records

After the release of their third album, Pour Down Like Silver, the Thompsons took an extended break from music. They spent much of the next three years living in sufi communes in London and Norfolk.

This prolonged sabbatical was punctuated by occasional session work by Richard Thompson and a short tour in 1977 in which the duo performed mostly new, overtly religious material and were backed by musicians who were also practitioners of the sufi faith.

In 1978 Richard Thompson accepted an invitation from Joe Boyd to play on Julie Covington's eponymous solo debut album. The musicians hired for this album included highly regarded American session players Willie Weeks, Andy Newmark and Neil Larson, who had also been working in the studio with George Harrison. According to Boyd the three Americans were hugely impressed by Thompson's playing and expressed a wish to work with him. Boyd also knew that Thompson had some new material and talked Thompson's manager Jo Lustig into taking advantage of the situation: "The material is there and these guys love Richard, they’re gonna kill to play with him. It would be great."

The resulting First Light was the fourth album by Richard and Linda Thompson and marked their resumption of their recording career. It is dominated by spiritual songs, some of them direct translations of sufi and koranic texts.

In later years Thompson expressed dissatisfaction with his recorded output in the late 1970s: "The regrets I would have would be career stuff, I was too flaccid in the 1970s, I just wasn’t thinking tightly enough to make a difference. Especially the later 70s, where I made really indifferent records, I just didn’t have my mind on the job."

First Light: The Search for the Edge of the Universe is a 1987 non-fiction book on astronomy and astronomers by Richard Preston.

The title refers to the astronomical term first light, which is when a telescope is first used to take an astronomical image after it has been constructed. First light also refers to the moment when stars and galaxies first formed out of a dark universe.

First Light may refer to:

First Light: The Story of the Boy Who Became a Man in the War-Torn Skies Above Britain is a 2002 memoir by Geoffrey Wellum, a Royal Air Force fighter pilot in the Second World War.

First Light was an English funk project of Paul Hardcastle.

First Light is the fourth studio album (fifth overall) by Jamaican-American collective Easy Star All-Stars. Unlike their other albums, this is the first album that features original songs by the band.

First Light is a novel by Sunil Gangopadhyay. It encompasses the second half of nineteenth century of Indian history, specially then ongoing Bengal Renaissance. The story of the novel centers on many historical figures including Rabindranath Tagore, Swami Vivekananda, Ramakrishna, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, George Curzon, etc.

First Light is the first album by rock band Wishbone Ash. The recording was made to get a record deal but as the band signed to MCA Records with the well-known help from Deep Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore in early 1970, they decided to re-record most of them.

In 2006 a Wishbone Ash aficionado from America named Dr. John managed to purchase the acetate from a Christie's auction and in 2007 the re-discovered recordings were released by Talking Elephant and so the Wishbone Ash fans finally got the opportunity to experience the very original versions of tracks from the debut-album as well as two never before heard songs "Roads Of Day To Day", and "Joshua" and a vocalized version of "Alone" (which appeared as an instrumental on the second album Pilgrimage). The album as a whole represents the band in their first stages of their creation. During the sessions of recording, the band used homemade instruments - Martin Turner used a homemade bass guitar which he had bought for £5.

First Light is a news program airing on numerous talk radio stations, syndicated by Westwood One, a subsidiary of Cumulus Media. The one-hour live program airs weekdays at 5:00 a.m. Eastern Time and is hosted by Evan Haning. The show features reports from Westwood One News and CNN, as well as guest interviews, a call-in segment and the short-form feature Last Night on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Dirk Van was the show's longtime host from 1989 to 2015, with Haning taking the hosting chores upon Van's retirement.1 A weekend version, The Week in Review, is also hosted by Haning. An alternate one-hour Westwood One news program known as America in The Morning, hosted by John Trout, also airs at 5 a.m. Eastern Time.

First Light was the last program that continued to use the original "NBC Radio" branding, via a short announcement at the end of the program and through the program's online and print logo (which included a "sunset orange" variant of the NBC peacock). Westwood One (known as "Dial Global" from 2011 through 2013), owns the remains of the original NBC radio network through its purchase of the original "Westwood One". When Westwood One retired the NBC News Radio news service on December 15, 2014, "First Light" was rebranded as a "Westwood One" program. Haning is also one of the anchors on the hourly Westwood One newscasts, airing on stations owned by Cumulus Media and other owners.

First Light is the nineteenth album by jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard. Recorded in 1971, it features string arrangements by Don Sebesky. It was his third album released on Creed Taylor's CTI label and features performances by Hubbard, Herbie Hancock, Eric Gale, George Benson, Ron Carter, Jack DeJohnette, Airto Moreira and Richard Wyands. The album is part of a loose trilogy including his two previous records at the time, Red Clay and Straight Life. First Light won a 1972 Grammy Award. - "Best Jazz Performance by a Group"

First Light is a young adult science fiction and mystery novel by Rebecca Stead, first published in 2007. The novel follows Peter, who is in Greenland with his father and mother for research on global warming, and Thea, who lives in Gracehope, an underground colony located below Greenland. First Light explains how global warming is melting Gracehope and Peter and Thea's attempt to persuade the people to leave. The novel addresses the effects of global warming as a theme.

Stead began writing the novel in 2002, but her first draft was confusing and unorganized. To help her, she met editor Wendy Lamb who advised her to meet with a small group of people who would help critique the novel. After three years of work, Stead finished the second draft and met with Lamb who once again helped make improvements and later published the novel. Reviewers praised the description of Gracehope and main characters, as well as the performances of Coleen Marlo and David Ackroyd who voiced Thea and Peter in a subsequent audiobook publication of First Light.

First Light is the fifteenth studio album by the British progressive rock group the Enid, released on 6 October 2014. The album is mostly made up of newly re-recorded arrangements by the current line-up, of songs from the band's back-catalogue, plus two brand new tracks, which will be featured on forthcoming Enid albums, and a live version of "Mayday Galliard". Fans who pre-ordered the album from the band's website before 21st September each had their name printed on the sleeve notes of the CD.

First Light is an album by flautist Herbie Mann's group The Family of Mann recorded in 1973 and released on the Atlantic label.

First Light ( , also spelled as The First Light) is a 2015 drama film written and directed by Vincenzo Marra and starring Riccardo Scamarcio. It was screened in the Venice Days section at the 72nd Venice International Film Festival, in which it won the Pasinetti Award for Venice Days' Best film.