James Webb Space Telescope

[Lendo]

Anyone else more excited for the launch on the James Webb telescope tomorrow at 12pm than for Christmas itself? Nope? Just me…..

[AFKA5814_Hibs]

Didn't realise the launch is tomorrow. I know it has been put back many times in the past. It will be amazing once it's up and running. Fingers crossed there are no snags, work on it has been going on for years and it's cost $billions to make.

[Lendo]

Didn't realise the launch is tomorrow. I know it has been put back many times in the past. It will be amazing once it's up and running. Fingers crossed there are no snags, work on it has been going on for years and it's cost $billions to make.

I believe some engineers have spent as long as 25 years on its design and construction. I can’t even imagine the dread of a life’s work going (potentially literally) up in smoke if something goes wrong.

[lord bunberry]

Anyone else more excited for the launch on the James Webb telescope tomorrow at 12pm than for Christmas itself? Nope? Just me…..
No not just you my friend. I didn’t realise the launch was tomorrow. This really has the potential to open up the universe and answer so many questions that we have. Without being dramatic this could change the way humanity sees itself, it has the ability to detect life on exoplanets. I really hope it goes smoothly and we reap the benefits for many years to come.

[patch1875]

I’m currently on Skye the clear sky tonight is fantastic trying to brave the freezing temps to spot some stars and planets

[lord bunberry]

I’m currently on Skye the clear sky tonight is fantastic trying to brave the freezing temps to spot some stars and planets
Do you use one of the apps to help mate? I’ve got one on my phone but the light pollution in Edinburgh makes it pretty much useless, but I was on holiday a couple of years ago and it was amazing how it identified everything.

[patch1875]

Do you use one of the apps to help mate? I’ve got one on my phone but the light pollution in Edinburgh makes it pretty much useless, but I was on holiday a couple of years ago and it was amazing how it identified everything.

Yeah using one called star light Uranus and Andromeda pretty clear just now plan to go out again in a bit and see what else we can see it’s bitterly cold just now though

[Mikey]

Anyone else more excited for the launch on the James Webb telescope tomorrow at 12pm than for Christmas itself? Nope? Just me…..

Absolutely. Our cooking timetable has been planned around it!



Yeah using one called star light Uranus and Andromeda pretty clear just now plan to go out again in a bit and see what else we can see it’s bitterly cold just now though

What are you looking at them through?

[patch1875]

Absolutely. Our cooking timetable has been planned around it!




What are you looking at them through?

Nothing just using the app to pin point them it’s pitch black here so the sky is amazing we were in Glenelg last year and the Milky Way was so clear with the naked eye.

The house has a telescope but we think it’s broken and we are getting nowhere with it.

[Mikey]

Ah, ok. Binoculars are pretty good for stargazing, I've got a pair of Celestron Skymaster 20x80's that are great in a dark sky.

[patch1875]

Ah, ok. Binoculars are pretty good for stargazing, I've got a pair of Celestron Skymaster 20x80's that are great in a dark sky.

There’s a pair of binoculars also and they are definitely broken the telescope is a tasco galaxsee going to see what’s what with it tomorrow as it’s looking good for tomorrow night also

[Mikey]

There’s a pair of binoculars also and they are definitely broken the telescope is a tasco galaxsee going to see what’s what with it tomorrow as it’s looking good for tomorrow night also

You could use the Moon tomorrow morning to check it out, it'll still be reasonably high in the sky in the west at 10am.

I'm sure I don't have to tell you, but don't go anywhere near the Sun with it.

[Hibrandenburg]

It's going to take a while until it's up and running, but that just adds to the excitement. The fact that it's designed to detect low wavelength light is fascinating, as the universe has expanded, so has the light emitted from distant stars.

[patch1875]

You could use the Moon tomorrow morning to check it out, it'll still be reasonably high in the sky in the west at 10am.

I'm sure I don't have to tell you, but don't go anywhere near the Sun with it.

Moon just appeared just now Betelgeuse looks super bright it’s not something I take any interest in but when you see them like this is fascinating.

[lord bunberry]

It's going to take a while until it's up and running, but that just adds to the excitement. The fact that it's designed to detect low wavelength light is fascinating, as the universe has expanded, so has the light emitted from distant stars.
Yeah that one of the most fascinating things about these telescopes. We all see through the visible light part of the spectrum but there’s so many other parts of the light spectrum that we can’t see with our eyes and these telescopes open up a whole new world that we can’t see. This telescope is going to deal mainly in the infrared I think, which will allow it to see further than any other telescope. As you say it will take a while to get up and running but the potential is like nothing we’ve seen before.

[Mikey]

You can watch it here.......


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8Skc-JqWLE

[sleeping giant]

Can only imagine the stress involved on the countdown to this launch.
Imagine sitting there in mission control waiting on your entire lifes work launching into space on a big firework 😀

[lord bunberry]

So far so good.

[Ryan91]

Can only imagine the stress involved on the countdown to this launch.
Imagine sitting there in mission control waiting on your entire lifes work launching into space on a big firework 😀

Fortunately the Ariane 5 is known for being a very reliable Heavy Lift Vehicle, being used to watching Falcon 9 launches I was surprised to see the first stage burning for nearly 10 minutes.

Real arse clench moment will come once JWST starts to deploy the sun shade, so many moving parts that could go wrong.

[Lendo]

Fortunately the Ariane 5 is known for being a very reliable Heavy Lift Vehicle, being used to watching Falcon 9 launches I was surprised to see the first stage burning for nearly 10 minutes.

Real arse clench moment will come once JWST starts to deploy the sun shade, so many moving parts that could go wrong.


Brilliant video on the complexities of the sun shield here on Real Engineering

https://youtu.be/aICaAEXDJQQ

[Mikey]

You can follow its progress here.......

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

[Mikey]

It's now fully deployed and "just" needs to get to L2 and cool down. First pics should be sometime in June.

[Paul1642]

It's now fully deployed and "just" needs to get to L2 and cool down. First pics should be sometime in June.

Great news. Its not had a great amount of coverage in the media but I reckon over the next couple of decades it’s going to give us some amazing images and information.

What is L2?

[Mikey]

Great news. Its not had a great amount of coverage in the media but I reckon over the next couple of decades it’s going to give us some amazing images and information.

What is L2?

This will explain it much better than I can.........

https://webb.nasa.gov/content/about/orbit.html

Gravitational forces mean it will basically just sit there without needing to use too much power.

[Mikey]

Mirror alignment completed.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-60771210

[One Day Soon]

I confidently expect that when they finally begin their first formal focus on whichever star or source they have targeted the thing that will become visible to this telescope will be the message 'don't **** it all up'.

[Lendo]

It still utterly baffles me how something so complex can be designed, built and then deployed remotely 1.5m km from earth. The sheer number of people working collaboratively for decades to get this done. My work can’t build and deploy a new mobile app without the world coming crashing down.