James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

[orin stepanek]

Halloween is gonna be big this year!

[Fred the Cat]

Pumpkins and Webb will intertwine in astronomy. Can hardly wait to see the greater jack-o'-lantern!

[TerribleTadpole]

A friend of mine wondered whether we might be able to link observations from multiple orbital observatories using long-baseline-interferometry like we do on the ground. I suspect that it is much more difficult in space where the separation between the stations is not fixed, and where they are all moving independently with respect to the subject. But I thought it worth asking the question. The longer baselines available from space, and the lack of obstacles would seem to be advantages.

Is anyone aware of research on this idea?

[Chris Peterson]

A friend of mine wondered whether we might be able to link observations from multiple orbital observatories using long-baseline-interferometry like we do on the ground. I suspect that it is much more difficult in space where the separation between the stations is not fixed, and where they are all moving independently with respect to the subject. But I thought it worth asking the question. The longer baselines available from space, and the lack of obstacles would seem to be advantages.

Is anyone aware of research on this idea?

With our current technology, interferometry in the optical part of the spectrum requires an optical pathway between the apertures. This requires that those apertures be no more than a few hundred meters apart. Much longer distances are possible at radio wavelengths, where the data can be stored locally and processed later. Space based radio telescopes operating this way are feasible. Optical ones, probably not.

[neufer]

A friend of mine wondered whether we might be able to link observations from multiple orbital observatories using long-baseline-interferometry like we do on the ground. I suspect that it is much more difficult in space where the separation between the stations is not fixed, and where they are all moving independently with respect to the subject. But I thought it worth asking the question. The longer baselines available from space, and the lack of obstacles would seem to be advantages.

Is anyone aware of research on this idea?

With our current technology, interferometry in the optical part of the spectrum requires an optical pathway between the apertures. This requires that those apertures be no more than a few hundred meters apart. Much longer distances are possible at radio wavelengths, where the data can be stored locally and processed later. Space based radio telescopes operating this way are feasible. Optical ones, probably not.

• The Future of Space-Based Interferometry

How the Astrometric Interferometer works.

---

<<The Space Interferometry Mission, or SIM Lite, was a planned space telescope proposed by the NASA, in conjunction with contractor Northrop Grumman. One of the main goals of the mission was the hunt for Earth-sized planets orbiting in the habitable zones of nearby stars other than the Sun.

The SIM Lite telescope functions through optical interferometry. SIM was to be composed of one science interferometer (50 cm collectors, 6 m separation [baseline]), a guide interferometer (30 cm collectors, 4.2 m baseline), and a guide telescope (30 cm aperture). The sophisticated guide telescope stabilizes instrument pointing in the third dimension. The spacecraft's operational limiting magnitude would have gone down to 20 at 20 millionths of an arcsecond (μas) and its planet-finding, astrometric accuracy of 1.12 μas is for single measurements. The accuracy of its global, all-sky astrometric grid would have been 4 μas.

SIM's design since 2000 consisted of two light collectors (strictly speaking, they are Mersenne telescopes) mounted on opposite ends of a six-meter structure. The observatory would have been able to measure the small wobbles in stars and detect the planets causing them down to one Earth mass at distances up to 33 light years (10 parsecs) from the Sun.>>

HALCA during a deployment test

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<<HALCA (Highly Advanced Laboratory for Communications and Astronomy), also known for its project name VSOP (VLBI Space Observatory Programme), was a Japanese 8 meter diameter radio telescope satellite which was used for Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). It was the first such space-borne dedicated VLBI mission.

It was placed in a highly elliptical orbit with an apogee altitude of 21,400 km and a perigee altitude of 560 km, with an orbital period of approximately 6.3 hours. This orbit allowed imaging of celestial radio sources by the satellite in conjunction with an array of ground-based radio telescopes, such that both good (u,v) plane coverage and very high resolution were obtained.

HALCA was launched in February 1997 from Kagoshima Space Center, and made its final VSOP observations in October 2003, far exceeding its 3-year predicted lifespan, before the loss of attitude control. All operations were officially ended in November 2005.

A follow-up mission ASTRO-G (VSOP-2) was planned, with a proposed launch date of 2012, but the project was eventually cancelled in 2011 due to increasing costs and the difficulties of achieving its science goals. It was expected to achieve resolutions up to ten times higher and up to ten times greater sensitivity than its predecessor HALCA. The cancellation of ASTRO-G left the Russian Spektr-R mission as the only then operational space VLBI facility.>>

[Orca]

Aside from looking deeper into space, what new revelations should we expect to see with the James Webb?

Will the Webb take us further toward the big bang and fine-tuning of the age of the Universe? If so, how far into the beginning of spacetime?

What will the various filtering show us? Will we be able to see into the center of galaxies?

Will the Webb allow us to see deeper into our own Milky Way galaxy?

How much improved detail can we expect viewing galaxies? Individual stars? And/or planets?

Thank you.

Here's a good comparison of HST and JWST:

https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/about ... ubble.html

Aside from the increased size of its primary mirror, perhaps the most important difference between the two instruments is that JWST will be working in the infrared range of the EM spectrum. This will allow JWST to cut through interstellar gas and dust. The new telescope will be able to see more clearly into our own galaxy, for example, which is heavily obscured in the optical range.

[Daniel DeSclafani]

Aside from looking deeper into space, what new revelations should we expect to see with the James Webb?

Will the Webb take us further toward the big bang and fine-tuning of the age of the Universe? If so, how far into the beginning of spacetime?

What will the various filtering show us? Will we be able to see into the center of galaxies?

Will the Webb allow us to see deeper into our own Milky Way galaxy?

How much improved detail can we expect viewing galaxies? Individual stars? And/or planets?

Thank you.

Here's a good comparison of HST and JWST:

https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/about ... ubble.html

Aside from the increased size of its primary mirror, perhaps the most important difference between the two instruments is that JWST will be working in the infrared range of the EM spectrum. This will allow JWST to cut through interstellar gas and dust. The new telescope will be able to see more clearly into our own galaxy, for example, which is heavily obscured in the optical range.

That is going to be exciting. May I ask though why that is not possible already? it seems we have some of the same technology here, thought this would have been done? What new things will they look through our galaxy for? Genuinely asking as well, not challenging your response! Thanks

[Chris Peterson]

Aside from looking deeper into space, what new revelations should we expect to see with the James Webb?

Will the Webb take us further toward the big bang and fine-tuning of the age of the Universe? If so, how far into the beginning of spacetime?

What will the various filtering show us? Will we be able to see into the center of galaxies?

Will the Webb allow us to see deeper into our own Milky Way galaxy?

How much improved detail can we expect viewing galaxies? Individual stars? And/or planets?

Thank you.

Here's a good comparison of HST and JWST:

https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/about ... ubble.html

Aside from the increased size of its primary mirror, perhaps the most important difference between the two instruments is that JWST will be working in the infrared range of the EM spectrum. This will allow JWST to cut through interstellar gas and dust. The new telescope will be able to see more clearly into our own galaxy, for example, which is heavily obscured in the optical range.

That is going to be exciting. May I ask though why that is not possible already? it seems we have some of the same technology here, thought this would have been done? What new things will they look through our galaxy for? Genuinely asking as well, not challenging your response! Thanks :ssmile:

It's been possible for a long time. It just requires money and effort to get it into space. Many of the interesting wavelengths here are blocked by our atmosphere.

[Daniel DeSclafani]

Here's a good comparison of HST and JWST:

https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/about ... ubble.html

Aside from the increased size of its primary mirror, perhaps the most important difference between the two instruments is that JWST will be working in the infrared range of the EM spectrum. This will allow JWST to cut through interstellar gas and dust. The new telescope will be able to see more clearly into our own galaxy, for example, which is heavily obscured in the optical range.

That is going to be exciting. May I ask though why that is not possible already? it seems we have some of the same technology here, thought this would have been done? What new things will they look through our galaxy for? Genuinely asking as well, not challenging your response! Thanks

It's been possible for a long time. It just requires money and effort to get it into space. Many of the interesting wavelengths here are blocked by our atmosphere.

Awesome, and absolutely makes sense. atmosphere blocking different wavelengths. The infrared wavelength is the strongest when we look all the way back correct? Which is part of the reason we are using JWST right? Just trying to remember everything I learned, I believe infrared is most of what's left from older galaxies and such right?

[Lariliss]

With James Webb Telescope astronomers hope to:
1. Study new galaxies that are close to the edge of the observable universe.
2. Find the first aggregations of stars that formed after the Big Bang.
3. Observe exoplanets with transmission spectroscopy.
4. Observe ‘earth-like atmospheres around other planets.
5. Study of the Universe expansion.

[Fred the Cat]

Start the countdown!

[neufer]

Start the countdown!

• Fly like a butterfly

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

<<The Guiana Space Centre (as per CNES) also contains the Îles du Salut, a former penal colony including the infamous Devil's Island.

Now a tourist site, the islands are under the launching trajectory for geosynchronous orbit and have to be evacuated during launches.>>

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[orin stepanek]

I hope they 'git er done' soon!

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

In number theory, an octahedral number is a figurate number that represents the number of spheres in an octahedron formed from close-packed spheres. The first few octahedral numbers are:

1, 6, 19, 44, 85, 146, 231, 344, 489, 670, 891 (sequence A005900).

[neufer]

The James Webb Space Telescope team is working a communication issue between the observatory and the launch vehicle system. This will delay the launch date to no earlier than Friday, Dec. 24.>>

• And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
  Had just settled our brains for a long winter's nap,
  When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
  I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.
  Away to the window I flew like a flash,
  Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.
  The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,
  Gave a lustre of midday to objects below,
  When what to my wondering eyes did appear,
  But a crashed Ariane 5 and eighteen golden mirror,
  Plus a large sunshield of aluminized Kapton,
  I knew in a moment something musta gone wrong.

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[orin stepanek]

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=James+Webb+La ... &ia=images
https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbL ... tdown.html
Hope it goes this time!

[neufer]

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=James+Webb+La ... &ia=images
https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbL ... tdown.html

Hope it goes this time!

<<The Eggnog Riot, sometimes known as the Grog Mutiny, was a riot that took place at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, on 24–25 December 1826. It was caused by a drunken Christmas Day party in the North Barracks of the academy. By 1826, concern had been raised that drinking was starting to get out of hand among the 260 cadets at the academy. The cadets were informed that, due to the alcohol prohibition on the site, their Christmas eggnog would be alcohol-free, prompting the decision to smuggle liquor into the academy. The riot eventually involved more than one-third of the cadets by the time it ceased on Christmas morning.

• Reveille sounded at 06:05 on December 25th, along with gunfire, the sound of glass breaking, profanity by cadets, cries of pain, and threats to academy officials. North Barracks residents who were not drunk from the eggnog were appalled by the damaged property. Cadets in the South Barracks were well rested, while other cadets in the North Barracks were disheveled. Some of the cadets remained in their rooms drinking, although some appeared in parade formation despite being drunk.

A subsequent investigation by academy officials resulted in the implication of 70 cadets and the court-martialing of 20 of them and one enlisted soldier. Among the participants in the riot—though he was not court-martialed—was future Confederate States President Jefferson Davis.>>

[Fred the Cat]

Things We've Never Seen

[neufer]

Things We've Never Seen

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

<<MIRI (Mid-InfraRed Instrument) will measure the mid-to-long-infrared wavelength range from 5 to 27 micrometers. It contains both a mid-infrared camera and an imaging spectrometer. MIRI was developed as a collaboration between NASA and a consortium of European countries, and is led by George Rieke (University of Arizona) and Gillian Wright (UK Astronomy Technology Centre, Edinburgh, Scotland, part of the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC)). MIRI features similar wheel mechanisms to NIRSpec which are also developed and built by Carl Zeiss Optronics GmbH under contract from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, Heidelberg, Germany. The completed Optical Bench Assembly of MIRI was delivered to Goddard Space Flight Center in mid-2012 for eventual integration into the ISIM. The temperature of the MIRI must not exceed 6 kelvins (K): a helium gas mechanical cooler sited on the warm side of the environmental shield provides this cooling.>>

[Kevin_Hall]

Hi everyone! I'm a newbie here and the very first thing I've already noticed that this JSWT thread is the oldest that I've seen while surfing other astro forums. That's nice!
By the way, all of 5 layers of the sunshield have already been deployed.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-59873738

Now it's the time for secondary mirror
Here is NASA's live stream
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EnlaXnFcGs

[neufer]

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

[Fred the Cat]

With lots to do comes the freedom to dream. Possibly shoot the moon?

If I can from two nights ago why not others in the future

[Kevin_Hall]

The Webb Space Telescope has transormned into its final form. Now it is on its way to Lagrange point 2.
JWST has already completed about 80% of the way.

https://twitter.com/NASAWebb/status/147 ... 60609?s=20

Just a quick reminder: the main goal of James Webb Space Telescope is discovering the birth of stars and galaxies, looking for planets to live on. This is the greatest telescope we have ever created.