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Day 2 Operations with the James Webb Space Telescope is about to begin

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Re: Day 2 Operations with the James Webb Space Telescope is about to begin

#4

Time to see how much damage that micrometeoroid did.

As long as it didn’t hit any of the actuator mechanism my guess is it probably will just add a bit of noise/bias that they can largely eliminate.

https://practicalastrophotography.com/a-brief-guide-to-calib...

Re: Day 2 Operations with the James Webb Space Telescope is about to begin

#6
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Kinda? But honestly I bet the people who worked on it are excited by the prestige of having the president release them. It'll get way more eyeballs on the event I'm sure, and he's almost certainly going to praise the people who worked on it

Re: Day 2 Operations with the James Webb Space Telescope is about to begin

#7
post #5

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Depends on what we see in the images. If we see space structures that are undeniable artificial, spanning tens of billions of light years in size, yes, that would be something that the president would announce.

Re: Day 2 Operations with the James Webb Space Telescope is about to begin

#8
post #5

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I'm of two minds here. I agree with you but hopefully having Biden involved in the briefing will draw more attention to what I think it one of the coolest large science and engineering projects in decades (just my opinion).

Re: Day 2 Operations with the James Webb Space Telescope is about to begin

#9

Time to see how much damage that micrometeoroid did.

I'm pretty sure that if there was any bad news they'd be managing expectations. This is the quiet of confidence, I think :)

Here's to hoping :D

Re: Day 2 Operations with the James Webb Space Telescope is about to begin

#10
post #5

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I think it emphasizes the importance of the results - it's for everyone, not just scientific types.

Back in 1964, President Lyndon Johnson "expressed interest" in the first close-up pictures NASA got from the Moon on Ranger 7. The freshly developed images were loaded onto a plane and the President got a private briefing with the head of NASA on the very same day. (sorry, I don't think I can link the picture) https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4210/pages/Ch_18.htm

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