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James Webb is fully deployed

nasa.gov

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Re: James Webb is fully deployed

#11

Post by PaulKeeble »

rwmj wrote: post #6

The picture is a visualisation, but does the telescope have a camera pointing at itself?

Alas no its too dark on the cold side and far too bright on the hot side, no camera can work in these extremes. Everything we know is based on telemetry and they set up a 3D model based on the telemetry so that we could see the live state.

Re: James Webb is fully deployed

#12

Post by PaulKeeble »

microjim wrote: post #2

Great news! I’m happy about this. Just curious - had this mission critically fail, how likely would we be to simply try again? Who needs to approve the cost for that? Would it be politically important to succeed currently?

Hopefully it inserts into L2 orbit successfully and starts doing science. If the results are interesting I can well see a future mission to try and refuel it to extend its life past its projected 10+ years.

Re: James Webb is fully deployed

#16

Post by micromacrofoot »

elefanten wrote: post #10

For those not up on the project, what are some of the earliest novel types of information we expect to receive from it?

One of the more interesting things that we'll get is data about what's in the atmosphere of exoplanets

https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/science/origins.html

Note that the next 5 months or so will consist of mirror cooling and calibration, so nothing until summer.

Re: James Webb is fully deployed

#17

Post by rich_sasha »

elefanten wrote: post #10

For those not up on the project, what are some of the earliest novel types of information we expect to receive from it?

Huge. This is the first large telescope observing in far infrared. Some things:

- very early galaxies (so far that they are redshifted to far IR). Hence the “looking into the start of the Universe” talk). We know they are there, and that they are unusual and super-interesting, but just can’t see them.

I think this is high on the agenda so I’m guessing some PR shots of ancient galaxies are due.

- cold objects nearby; brown dwarves, rogue planets etc. Maybe planets around nearby stars.

- I haven’t seen this discussed, but maybe: Kuiper Belt objects, maybe looking for Planet X etc.

Re: James Webb is fully deployed

#18

Post by fotta »

elefanten wrote: post #10

For those not up on the project, what are some of the earliest novel types of information we expect to receive from it?

I'm excited to see what we learn about the earliest days of the universe since it can observe highly red-shifted objects.

Re: James Webb is fully deployed

#19

Post by micromacrofoot »

rich_sasha wrote: post #17
elefanten wrote: post #10

For those not up on the project, what are some of the earliest novel types of information we expect to receive from it?

Huge. This is the first large telescope observing in far infrared. Some things: - very early galaxies (so far that they are redshifted to far IR). Hence the “looking into the start of the Universe” talk). We know they are there, and that they are unusual and super-interesting, but just can’t see them. I think this is high on the agenda so I’m guessing some PR shots of ancient galaxies are due. - cold objects nearby;…

Even earlier than galaxies, we'll be able to see some of the first stars that existed before galaxies formed.

IIRC the telescope will be able to see "back" into 98% of the observable universe.

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