How Webb Orbits Nothing

[Copper]

Nice video, when you have 15 minutes to spare

Link to video

[89th]

First of all. Really cool video. Makes me appreciate (and fear) the brilliant math/science involved to calculate all of this so precisely... in a solar system/galaxy that is continually moving.

Second of all, I loved how one graphic said it was "REALLY not to scale", lolz.

Finally... the 2nd half of the video.... gets into the details and then has the balls to say "now, this was a really simplistic explanation". Umm, glad I'm not in school anymore.

[Copper]

I really enjoy when someone can talk about such a complex topic and make it somewhat understandable.

Fascinating, beautiful stuff

[89th]

Agreed. I'm surprised the Webb has enough mass to even calculate into the gravitational pull of the earth and sun. I mean, imagine actually being at the L2... how small the earth would even look!

[mark]

[George K]

@89th said in How Webb Orbits Nothing:

I mean, imagine actually being at the L2... how small the earth would even look!

Probably about ¼ the size that it looks like from the moon.

[Copper]

The camera is on, no pics yet

Link to video

The iconic James Webb Space Telescope has turned on its camera to look at its first target, star HD 84406, in the constellation of Ursa Major, the Great Bear. It's a sun-like star about 260 light-years away and is too dim to be seen with naked eyes. HD 84406 will help the telescope align its 18 honeycombed-shaped mirrors.

These images will be taken by Webb's most crucial camera - the NIRcam. The Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam)will cover the infrared wavelength range of 0.6 to 5 microns. NIRCam has to first cool down to a temperature of just -237 ºC (36 K). It will detect light from the earliest stars and galaxies in the formation process, the population of stars in nearby galaxies, and young stars in the Milky Way and Kuiper Belt objects. It is also equipped with coronagraphs, which allow astronomers to take pictures of very faint objects around a central bright object like star systems.

NIRCam will keep staring at HD 84406 while Webb's optics experts move the mirror segments in nanometer-scale steps to create a perfectly smooth surface. This work is expected to last until late April. The first proper images will probably be released in late June or early July.

[George K]

@copper said in How Webb Orbits Nothing:

The camera is on, no pics yet

Probably being uploaded to the Great Magellanic Cloud.

[Copper]

launch + 180 days to get it ready