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The Webb Telescope

The Webb Telescope

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@liljo said
Webb has arrived! The final adjustment at L2 has been accomplished! No space rocks have destroyed the 'scope!

Perfectly executed. Let the cooldown begin!
Now hold 4 more months for the photos to start rolling in. I can't wait!

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@wildgrass said
Now hold 4 more months for the photos to start rolling in. I can't wait!
I bet we'll be getting preview "this is not our best yet but look at this" photos earlier than that. And I'm looking forward to them already.

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@Shallow-Blue
They are undoubtedly going to do that as soon as they get any kind of rough focus.


@sonhouse said
@Shallow-Blue
They are undoubtedly going to do that as soon as they get any kind of rough focus.
Remember the first results of Hubble? And how they were better than anything we'd ever seen? And how that was then shown to be not as good as they should've been, and some stupid luddites said that this proved that Hubble, and all astronomy, was useless and a waste of money? And how they repaired it? And the results after that?

Remember Deep Field?

My God. So much better than we could ever have anticipated!

I can't even imagine what James Webb's equivalent of that will be, but I'm already looking forward to it.

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@jimm619 said
https://www.npr.org/2021/12/17/1064724045/this-new-space-telescope-should-reveal-what-the-universe-looked-like-as-a-baby?utm_source=pocket-newtab
https://news.yahoo.com/5-amazing-facts-james-webb-184900485.html


@jimm619 said
https://news.yahoo.com/5-amazing-facts-james-webb-184900485.html
Great article. Absolutely tremendous!

On NASA TV, they had a publicity show after reaching L2. I don't remember the exact wording, but the lady said they are going to release absolutely mind-boggling images to the public before starting the pre-planned first year of actual focused scientific study.

Just think, every hour of every day for the first year of use is pre-planned! But, before that gets underway, they want to do this for the world--release something spectacular to look at.


@wildgrass said
Now hold 4 more months for the photos to start rolling in. I can't wait!
Me neither, Wildgrass! Going to be beyond what I could have dreamed before Hubble.

Just seeing the earliest galaxy formations, and maybe unraveling the mystery of how supermassive black holes could have formed so early. I bet they discover new "species" or classifications of stars previously unknown.

And wait till they start really looking closely at exoplanets, such as the Trappist-1 system:
https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/news/335/10-things-all-about-trappist-1/

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What excites me about Webb is not so much the known unknowns it is likely to make known, as the UNknown unknowns it might reveal.

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@moonbus
Take a look at my post above, "major radio astronomy find''

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@moonbus said
What excites me about Webb is not so much the known unknowns it is likely to make known, as the UNknown unknowns it might reveal.
We will actually be able to see the wall that represents the outer confines of our simulated reality?

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@wildgrass
We already see that wall, it's called the CBR, cosmic background radiation. That is as close as any optical scope will get.
To see further, you have to have specialized gravitational wave detectors that can go back before there were atoms, look at the original pea soup of the universe.


So how is Webby doing? Is it all chilled out yet? Has it self-tested all its circuits? Are its power cells warming up nicely? Is it sad and lonely, or happy and excited?

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@bunnyknight said
So how is Webby doing? Is it all chilled out yet? Has it self-tested all its circuits? Are its power cells warming up nicely? Is it sad and lonely, or happy and excited?
Someone could, and probably should, write a fan fiction novel about the telescope personified.

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@wildgrass
You mean anthropomorphizing it? Make it into the newest Puppet?

1 edit
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https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/whereIsWebb.html

For anyone interested in how the "Webby" is doing, here's the link. It is under controlled cooling, and will be for a good while yet.

PS: I ride Harley Davidson motorcycles. Several of my friends were in a garage on a rainy day, waiting for the rain to cease. One mentioned his bike had a name. The others joined in, and they had also named their bikes. Finally, one asked what I called mine (I was currently riding a very old model--over 30 years old) and I had never really thought about naming it. Quickly, however, and not to be outdone, I told them I called it "Start You Son of a _______"!

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