The James Webb Space Telescope

[Dirk Hofman]

Telescope has successfully achieved the L2 position. Impressive that it all went to plan. So complex.

https://www.theverge.com/2022/1/24/2...lagrange-point

[Photojeep]

I've been watching the progress of this amazing piece of technology since it's launch. The complexity of its unfolding has been really amazing to "witness" (virtually of course.)

Now the website https://webb.nasa.gov/content/webbLa...ereIsWebb.html
has a really cool 3D animation of it "flying" so despite its more internal tasks, we can still "see" what it's doing.

Best,
PJ

[Dirk Hofman]

First test images coming in now. Apparently surpassing all expectations!



https://www.space.com/james-webb-spa...lignment-photo

"We have fully aligned and focused the telescope on a star, and the performance is beating specifications. We are excited about what this means for science," Ritva Keski-Kuha, deputy optical telescope element manager for Webb at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, said in a NASA statement. "We now know we have built the right telescope."

You can see a bunch of galaxies in the background. Excited to see what this thing comes up with!

[Gitfiddlemann]

Originally Posted by Dirk Hofman

Excited to see what this thing comes up with!

Very much so!
I understand there are still steps that need to successfully completed, but I guess they are past the "sweating bullets" stage. Assuming the rest goes to plan, July should be the start of something very special.

[Gitfiddlemann]

Just came across an article in Cosmos magazine on the telescope, and thought I would share an excerpt here. It's self-explanatory, and highlights the many things we can look forward to, i.e. not only viewing distantly into the past but also planets likely to have water like Earth. I thought that was interesting.

"But it’s not all about looking far away.

The telescope’s infrared instruments are also perfectly suited to helping us reveal more about the nearby universe by studying planets outside our solar system. I’m very excited to see the telescope take spectroscopy of distant worlds as they pass in front of their stars and hopefully confirm the existence of water beyond Earth.”

Finally, the James Webb Space Telescope is what’s known by astronomers as a ‘dust buster’.

“Both near and far where planets and stars are formed there’s heaps of dust,” explains Allen. “Because over time stars enrich the universe as they create heavier elements in their cores. Dust is annoying because it loves to absorb the bright light coming from stars, shrouding our view of these important regions and even making distant galaxies harder to see. But this light is re-emitted at longer wavelengths that JWST will be able to see, allowing us to learn more about how planetary systems like our own were formed.

“With the telescope up and aligned, the next decade (or two!) will be full of incredible discoveries. Stay tuned!”

[rbock]

I looked at nine of the most recent shots released in the past couple of days some of which were over 186 million light years away. Talk about a window on the universe! I can't help thinking, however, of that amazing eye floating lonely in space with no one left back on earth to receive the images.