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@bunnyknight saidThat's what they're saying! That is some awesome engineering.
@Liljo
When it reaches the target at L2, won't it be in Earth's shadow, sort of like a perpetual solar eclipse? Seems to me that Earth should block almost the entire solar disc at that distance.
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@sonhouse saidThe way NASA goes at it, I'd be surprised if there isn't. Man...they have so many projects in the works. There are currently at least 35 telescopes in Earth's orbit, although most are not telescopes in the sense that most of us mere humans think about them. There are many more scheduled for launch between this year and 2037.
@Liljo
I wonder if there will be a scope even bigger running 20 years from now?
I am almost at retirement age, and this will give me something to "track" for the rest of my life.
Currently: 758,000 miles out. Traveling 698.4mph.
@Kevin-Eleven
I was lucky to have fallen into working on Apollo. But I have worked in other facilities involved with space, l also worked on TDRSS weather sats.
@liljo saidSo by now this speedy little demon is probably tearing through space at about 600 mph. Better hope that no aliens see it or they might die laughing, which could spark an interstellar war.
Currently:
Speed: 678.6mph
@bunnyknight
Especially if there WERE aliens in this neck of the woods....
It's looking now like maybe we only get one scientific civilization per galaxy at any one time. That would also explain why we don't see aliens outside of UFO nuts.
@sonhouse saidI wouldn't be so sure. Once this Webb scope becomes operational and the lens cap comes off, you might start seeing so many aliens that it will make you dizzy.
@bunnyknight
Especially if there WERE aliens in this neck of the woods....
It's looking now like maybe we only get one scientific civilization per galaxy at any one time. That would also explain why we don't see aliens outside of UFO nuts.
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I dunno. Maybe it’s da weed, but…I am in the camp with people who believe there is life all over the universe. It’s just that there is so much distance between galaxies/stars/exoplanets, etc., that we’ll never come in contact.
I mean, the closest known solar system to ours is about 4.5 light years. And if there isn’t life there, well, it is truly staggering how far away it may be. And I’m not even talking about intelligent life. We may find life on a Galilean moon near Jupiter. But alien civilizations? Rare if any, and far, far away.
@Liljo
But for a first place to visit once we get propulsion near light speed, would be Alpha Centauri system, you get three for the price of one, three stars in that system so it will be a great place to visit, life or no life.
It is amazing they can figure out just where that L2 spot is, it is not like there are big moons to peg it. I think they figured that one out by analyzing the gravitational fields of the planets and the sun and just figured it out mathematically.