James Webb Space Telescope Lifts Off

[MargoTester]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-59782057

How amazing is this

[Deskdiary]

I think this is bloody awesome, and like Gromit I can’t wait to see the images it produces.

Teapots POV can be applied to everything relatively speaking - how dare I have bought more food than was needed for Xmas when there’s homeless people going hungry!

[Spicerack]

Funnily enough it was gromit who admonished us regarding the world's 811m starving people on another thread today.

[lankeela]

Exciting stuff but can someone explain in words of one syllabubble how it can see into the past how the universe was formed - I can only comprehend it moving forward into the future? Even if it travels millions of miles by the time it gets there it will have happened.

[Kardashev]

Lankeela, because the speed limit is the speed of light we see everything as it was when the light started its journey. Now for the close stuff that's negligible but even our sun we see as it was 8 minutes ago. Now if we look at objects like galaxies then we see them as they were when that lights started its journey. Eg Andromeda, our neighbouring galaxy is 2.5m light years away, so we see that as it was 2.5m years ago. So the new telescope allows us to see further than ever before and thus further back in time than ever before.

[Kardashev]

the new telescope will be placed at Legrange point 2 (L2) that means it will need minimal energy to stay in that position in the solar system, essentially locked there by the Sun and Earth. It can then start it's true mission.

[DTCwordfan]

remember when they launched Hubble - Why are astrophysicists always nervous before they launch a new satellite?
It can be a very Hubble-ing experience.

Any puns on the James Webb one?

[lankeela]

Thanks Kardashev, that makes sense (I think) - although I wouldn't object to having a close encounter with Professor Brian Cox to explain it to me in detail!

[Teapots1]

Kardashev 17.18. They don't call them caves now, try shanties.

[Kardashev]

these are the basics, you don't need the prof, what else would you like explained?

[Gromit]

DTCwordfan
They are nervous for the James Webb because of their experience with Hubble.
Hubble also took many years to get into space , they switched it on, and were horrified to find it was defective. And it took several years to repair.

[MargoTester]

https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-deployment-points-of-failure
344 points of failure that could happen along the way - mind boggling

[Kardashev]

gromit 13:17, indeed at least with Hubble it was in Earth orbit where they could send up the space shuttle and do repairs to the optics. The JW is heading for L2, we'd struggle to send astronauts there to fix it so they are understandably nervous.

[HeavensToBetsy]

Some James Webb Space Telescope puns for DTC:

How does the JWST connect to the internet?
Via a Webb server.

Why was the JWST launched on Christmas Day?
So it could reach a stable orbit.

Why can’t the JWST see ultraviolet light?
Because it’s out of ‘scope.

Why can’t the JWST’s sun-screen catch COVID?
Because it’s shielding.

Why is there a gap between James and Webb?
Because it’s a space telescope.

I’ll get my coat…