Webb telescope reached its destination at L2 yesterday
NASA’s new toy completed the final burn for braking to enter its “home” orbit for the remainder of its mission yesterday, with remarkable efficiency. Given the necessary fuel to occasionally correct course and lodge it back in its orbit, this is a HUGE accomplishment:
The extra fuel will prolong the lifetime of the telescope by years, well beyond its official 10-year target.
“We doubled the mission life. The budget was for 10 years. With this new estimate, we’re about 20-plus years,” Durning said.
Now the task will be focusing the panels, which is expected to take 3 months. If all continues as planned, the first images could be downloaded this summer.
(I’m on my phone; sorry if the formatting sucks)
January 25th, 2022 at 9:42 AM ^
Space Bitches, Space
January 25th, 2022 at 10:59 AM ^
Demonstrating once again that punctuation can help clarity. (We’ve got no Space Bitches here.)
January 25th, 2022 at 1:02 PM ^
Speak for yourself.
January 25th, 2022 at 9:42 AM ^
The primary mirror consists of 18 individual mirror segments, each of which is independently adjustable via motors and actuators. It's these segments that will be adjusted over the next few months during focus and calibration checks.
As an interesting aside, the motors move the mirror segments extremely slowly, due to the very fine adjustments needed for each segment. And during launch, the segments were pulled back in to mechanical stops to help reduce vibration (ie: damage). So for the last week, or so, they were moving out to their normal position. As it was explained to me, the segments move at a speed equivalent to grass growing. So, engineers planted chia seeds in the formation of the mirror when they started moving them last week. Once they were fully deployed, they were 1.2mm from launch position. The chia seedlings grew to a length of 1.2mm.
(Source: a friend in charge of JWST flight systems)
January 25th, 2022 at 2:13 PM ^
There are some fascinating reads (and a documentary) out there about the shady things that Bob Ross's former partners did in the lead up to, and after, his death. Love the man, his show, and his painting system, but it really changed my feelings about all the Bob Ross branded merchandise...
E.g. https://www.thedailybeast.com/sex-deceit-and-scandal-the-ugly-war-over-bob-ross-ghost
https://www.bustle.com/entertainment/bob-ross-inc-boycott-netflix-movie
https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/10/bob-ross-inc-joan-kowalski
January 25th, 2022 at 11:10 AM ^
I recall reading that the motors (six per mirror, I presume mounted on each corner of the hexagon) can adjust position down to the nanometer range. This is unfathomable to me. All at the distance of 950,000 miles.
January 25th, 2022 at 9:48 AM ^
Protip: You can delete everything after the "?" in a URL and it'll still link to the correct page.
January 25th, 2022 at 9:53 AM ^
But then how are the website owners supposed to look at Google analytics and see that you arrived from an email alert.
/s
P.S: You can't delete everything after the "?" all of the time, which are called query strings, they serve a purpose on A LOT of websites still. However, with this link, you could delete them and arrive at the correct location.
January 25th, 2022 at 10:03 AM ^
I tested it and lost the page, thus the mea culpa. It’s possible I also deleted the ? by mistake. ?♂️
January 25th, 2022 at 9:59 AM ^
These pictures will be glorious.
January 25th, 2022 at 10:06 AM ^
The images will be NFT to help pay for the project...
jk! Looking forward to seeing the first images. Wonder what they will look at first and who got to make the choice. Hope the answers aren't "Uranus" and "someone on MGoBlog".
January 25th, 2022 at 10:07 AM ^
This telescope gives me a universal hard-on for the future of space knowledge.
January 25th, 2022 at 10:09 AM ^
If that lasts for more than four hours, you should immediately consult a physician...
January 25th, 2022 at 10:26 AM ^
But if it goes for more than the 20 expected years, start a new career in, uh, "pictures."
January 25th, 2022 at 11:41 AM ^
....consult a physician, why not find a brothel? Don't want to waste good wood.
January 25th, 2022 at 12:12 PM ^
Use it before you lose it.
January 25th, 2022 at 12:16 PM ^
I learned that lesson the hard way.
January 25th, 2022 at 10:08 AM ^
I think what the OP meant to write is that the CGI team at Disney Studios has finished creating a hyper-realistic fabrication making the sheep believe the "Webb Telescope" "reached" "Lagrange 2" "yesterday."
Sincerely,
Kyrie Irving
January 25th, 2022 at 10:16 AM ^
Sadly, it's cosigned by a few people I go to church with.
January 25th, 2022 at 10:40 AM ^
Perhaps refer them to Robert Jastrow? They'll likely agree with his conclusions, and the way Jastrow goes about getting to his conclusions might be enough to get a reader to put down a conspiracy theory or two.
January 25th, 2022 at 10:58 AM ^
Not surprised! Church and 'Big Bang' are not compatible... JWST is seeking out the Big Bang remnants from merely a few hundred thousand years after. So it's looking for something ~14B years old. The Bible says things aren't that old. Merely one of many incongruities...
January 25th, 2022 at 11:10 AM ^
I'm a person of faith and church and I believe in the Big Bang theory.
My favorite bible verse comes from Job:
Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation?
Tell me, if you understand.
Anyone who says they are not compatible is missing one of the core tenets of Christianity. With God all things are possible.
End breaking MGoBlog rule now.
January 25th, 2022 at 11:17 AM ^
Yeah, I am not religious, but I never understand the incompatibility here:
1. All scientists seek causes - and even better, first causes. Even if the Big Bang created the universe, isn't it fair to wonder what caused the Big Bang?
3. Does God really have the same concept of time as us? Maybe days 1-6 (plus a rest day) lasted 14 billion years (give or take), at least to God?
January 25th, 2022 at 11:27 AM ^
The Bible should be taken literally. No allegory or metaphors in there. Kill your younger brother, it’s fine.
Signed: reverend doctor father billy bob.
back to the snakes!
January 25th, 2022 at 11:27 AM ^
Speaking of Job, I believe the Book of Job was required reading in Great Books 1 or 2 which was the freshman Literature requirement for engineering back in the 80s. I remember taking the class in East Engineering. I believe it's called East Hall now.
January 25th, 2022 at 11:41 AM ^
The Big Bang is completely compatible with Church.
People think of God as bound by the same forces we are (space, time, mass, etc.). But if God created those things, he is therefore outside of them, so he is clearly not bound by them. God is outside the laws of matter, space, and time.
We created computers. We are clearly not within them, nor within the laws that govern them.
Just because we don't understand doesn't mean it doesn't exist or they aren't compatible. Incongruities you mention could easily be chalked up to "humans from 2000 years ago trying to understand and explain things we don't understand now even with all out technology."
January 25th, 2022 at 12:04 PM ^
All these are fair explanations! I didn't meant to kick off a war, or question anyone's faith. I don't really care what you believe in... For myself, I went to Lutheran schools all my life, so I'm fairly well versed in the beliefs. I've just grown apart from it
I don't know what caused the Big Bang. Maybe that's the question we need to sort out once JWST unlocks what happened back in the day?
January 25th, 2022 at 12:10 PM ^
If you counted the number of times you pooped in Lutheran schools, would it amount to 95 Feces?
(I am so, so sorry...)
January 25th, 2022 at 2:14 PM ^
Only because I nailed them to the front door of the church.
January 25th, 2022 at 12:08 PM ^
True, but is really funny is that the theory, the Big Bang, was initially developed by a Jesuit trained priest (not a Jesuit).
January 25th, 2022 at 12:45 PM ^
Sounds like we may need another...INQUISITION!!!
January 25th, 2022 at 2:00 PM ^
It is interesting that a priest developed an early form of the Big Bang Theory and it is accepted by the Catholic church, while an early form of condom use was encouraged by a Catholic priest but is condemned by the church. Maybe it's because the BBT came so recently that it was easier to just accept it, whereas contraception has a longer history of traditional condemnation and might affect the church's bottom line.
January 25th, 2022 at 10:14 AM ^
Is this Sam Webb's new gut feeling?
January 25th, 2022 at 10:19 AM ^
This was a fascinating read. Serious brain power at work
https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-nasas-james-webb-space-telescope-matters-so-much-20211203/
I’m curious where this can lead and what types of benefits this has for mankind?
January 25th, 2022 at 10:59 AM ^
Sam Webb will be able to get a better look at the recruiting landscape.
January 25th, 2022 at 5:30 PM ^
Worth every penny!
January 25th, 2022 at 10:59 AM ^
Besides curiosity, what are the benefits? I am guessing this will not directly impact anything really.
January 25th, 2022 at 5:35 PM ^
And they say China is playing the long game…this is the long game.
January 25th, 2022 at 11:12 AM ^
Knowing mankind, we'll find out a bunch of horny scientists were using it to peek in windows back here on earth.
January 25th, 2022 at 11:00 AM ^
So cool!
January 25th, 2022 at 11:03 AM ^
I clicked in thinking this was some code for what Sam thinks Harbaugh will do.
January 25th, 2022 at 11:20 AM ^
When I get morose about American society/politics/pandemic/people in general, I take great consolation and inspiration from the Webb telescope project.
January 25th, 2022 at 11:39 AM ^
I watched the live presser yesterday. They are also waiting on the radiation heat cooldown.
January 25th, 2022 at 11:48 AM ^
I know this is weird but I've been anxiously awaiting the EHT images of Sagittarius A*. When the eff are we gonna see this?
January 25th, 2022 at 1:04 PM ^
In case people are wondering...
"Sagittarius A* (pronounced "Sagittarius A-Star", abbreviated Sgr A*) is a bright and very compact astronomical radio source at the Galactic Center of the Milky Way. It is located near the border of the constellations Sagittarius and Scorpius, about 5.6° south of the ecliptic, visually close to the Butterfly Cluster (M6) and Shaula. Sagittarius A* is the location of a supermassive black hole, similar to massive objects at the centers of most, if not all, spiral and elliptical galaxies."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagittarius_A*
"The first image of the Milky Way's supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A*, was expected to be produced from data taken in April 2017, but because there are no flights in or out of the South Pole during austral winter (April to October), the full data set could not be processed until December 2017, when the shipment of data from the South Pole Telescope arrived."
It's odd that there's no further explanation or content about the imaging of Sagittarus A*