Tiberius Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 (edited) Pretty cool...if it works. These people won't be sleeping much until that thing is up and working a million miles from home https://www.cbsnews.com/news/james-webb-space-telescope-60-minutes-2021-12-12/ Edited February 14, 2022 by Tiberius 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiberius Posted December 13, 2021 Author Share Posted December 13, 2021 Quote This December 22, may become known as the day the universe changed. That Wednesday, NASA expects to launch the James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most expensive instrument ever flown. One hundred times more powerful than the 31-year-old Hubble Telescope, Webb can see back in time all the way to the "let there be light" moment—that instant when a cold, dark universe ignited into stars. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Poojer Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 my mind cannot comprehend the ability to look 'back in time' 😵 31 minutes ago, Tiberius said: 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 12 minutes ago, The Poojer said: my mind cannot comprehend the ability to look 'back in time' 😵 Like it says in the article, think about seeing the sun and how that's 8 minutes earlier. The farther away something is, the more in the past what you're seeing of it it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherpa Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 So many incredible things about this scope. It will take nearly six months to get fully deployed and have the science working on it. Orbital point is at Lagrange 2, which is about a million miles from earth and synchronized to earth's orbit around the sun, and protected by a massive heat shield. What gives it it's unique ability is that it senses IR signals instead of visual light, like Hubbell. So many things have to go right, as there is no way to fix it, other than what it can do internally. Super exciting to watch this process. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ridgewaycynic2013 Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 Just don't point it towards Earth, and clearly reveal that it's flat. 🤨 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tiberius Posted December 13, 2021 Author Share Posted December 13, 2021 7 minutes ago, sherpa said: So many incredible things about this scope. It will take nearly six months to get fully deployed and have the science working on it. Orbital point is at Lagrange 2, which is about a million miles from earth and synchronized to earth's orbit around the sun, and protected by a massive heat shield. What gives it it's unique ability is that it senses IR signals instead of visual light, like Hubbell. So many things have to go right, as there is no way to fix it, other than what it can do internally. Super exciting to watch this process. Hubble was broken when it went up, so sh it can go wrong. But they could go up and work on it. That New Herizons space craft sent to Pluto went dark a few days before it was to pass by and then thankfully rebooted. Ya, if this thing has a problem, it's not going to get fixed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Poojer Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 Yeah, that's pretty incredible 15 minutes ago, Doc said: Like it says in the article, think about seeing the sun and how that's 8 minutes earlier. The farther away something is, the more in the past what you're seeing of it it is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WhoTom Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 3 hours ago, The Poojer said: my mind cannot comprehend the ability to look 'back in time' 😵 3 hours ago, Doc said: Like it says in the article, think about seeing the sun and how that's 8 minutes earlier. The farther away something is, the more in the past what you're seeing of it it is. 3 hours ago, The Poojer said: Yeah, that's pretty incredible Every time you watch a Bills game on TV, you're experiencing the same thing on a smaller scale. It takes time for the cameras to convert the light to electricity, time to convert that signal to radio waves (or digitize it), time for the waves to reach the satellite and back (or your antenna) or for the digital signal to stream and reach your modem/router, etc. So when you watch the Bills on TV in "real-time," there's a lag. In effect, you're seeing what happened a few seconds ago and, therefore, looking back in time. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Success Posted December 13, 2021 Share Posted December 13, 2021 They've put over a decade into this. I can't imagine how it must feel for them while they're waiting to see if it all goes as planned - I'm nervous, and I'm not even involved. It will greatly expand our knowledge of the cosmos if all goes well. I'm stoked. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Warcodered Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 6 hours ago, WhoTom said: Every time you watch a Bills game on TV, you're experiencing the same thing on a smaller scale. It takes time for the cameras to convert the light to electricity, time to convert that signal to radio waves (or digitize it), time for the waves to reach the satellite and back (or your antenna) or for the digital signal to stream and reach your modem/router, etc. So when you watch the Bills on TV in "real-time," there's a lag. In effect, you're seeing what happened a few seconds ago and, therefore, looking back in time. I mean literally everything you see is reflected light so all of it is something that has already happened. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TBBills Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 (edited) I have been waiting for this for years. I cannot wait to see the pictures. Edited December 14, 2021 by TBBills Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wacka Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 For the Hubble picture, it took months for them to process the picture. They have to take them through red, green and blue filters and then combine them to and get the color levels correct. I have a friend ( Buffalonian and UB Grad) that was the head of the office at the Goddard Space Fight Center in Grenbelt, MD that directed where to point the Hubble. He mentioned to me that they had a photo that would blow everyone away. That was in December that year. In the summer they published the "Pillars of Creation" photo. Took them that long to make sure everything was aligned and calibrated. He eventually left there and today one of his twin sons has that job. 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nextmanup Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marv's Neighbor Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 14 hours ago, Tiberius said: Hopefully it will have more initial success than Hubble. As I recall, Hubble needed a vision correction before it became really useful. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sherpa Posted December 14, 2021 Share Posted December 14, 2021 8 hours ago, Wacka said: For the Hubble picture, it took months for them to process the picture. They have to take them through red, green and blue filters and then combine them to and get the color levels correct. Yes. Hubbell pictures are black and white or greyscale, more accurately. The spectacular images published are after processing, which is not to say they are not accurate. The scope has numerous filters and after taking pictures with a number of them, and seeing how much light passes through in each wavelength range, they can get a sense of the true color and then apply that to complete the final image. Hubbell's initial problem was due to an error in testing equipment which ultimately led to the misplacing of the primary mirror, and thus, blurry images. Fortunately an ingenious fix was arrived at, resulting in the fabulous images we have enjoyed for years. Such a fix won't be possible at Webb's orbit location. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad Things Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 My brother played a part in the Hubble "fix", making some very high spec'd optics for it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simon Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 Launch delayed by two days due to a data uplink issue. Now scheduled to launch on Dec 24. Heads up, Santa! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike in Horseheads Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 On 12/14/2021 at 12:22 AM, Marv's Neighbor said: Hopefully it will have more initial success than Hubble. As I recall, Hubble needed a vision correction before it became really useful. Nothing says SpaceX couldn't try? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gugny Posted December 15, 2021 Share Posted December 15, 2021 On 12/13/2021 at 10:25 AM, The Poojer said: Yeah, that's pretty incredible I wonder how clearly they'll be able to see Uranus. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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