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<\/a>JWST photo of ‘Cartwheel Galaxy’ 500 million light years away.<\/p><\/div>\n
I\u2019ve searched high and low for something to write about this week.\u00a0 Yes, I was just out in \u2018the desert\u2019, had a great time, but you\u2019ve heard those stories before.\u00a0 I have some fun trips planned for later in the year, but that\u2019s for later in the year.\u00a0 What on earth can I possibly write about?\u00a0 Wait a minute, maybe what I write about is not on earth.\u00a0 Those who follow us here, know that I have an interest in space, and have mentioned before, perhaps on several occasions, that coincidently, my teachers always said that I took up space in school.<\/p>\n
If you thought James Webb was the love child of Jack Webb and Princess Leia, then you should probably stop reading now.<\/p>\n
Since the launching of this 26-year project, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)<\/strong>, on Christmas day of 2021 from French Guiana<\/strong>, the photos that it\u2019s been sending back to us have been spectacular!\u00a0 Wait a minute, why, you ask was a telescope built by the US (NASA)<\/strong>, European (ESA)<\/strong> and Canadian (CSA)<\/strong> space agencies launched from French Guiana, of all places?\u00a0 You astrophysicists out there already know that the closer to the equator the launch is, the faster the earth is spinning and thus giving the launch additional push.<\/p>\n James Webb Space Telescope<\/p><\/div>\n When one discovers that this six metric ton<\/strong>, floating telescope was folded up inside an Ariane 5 rocket<\/strong>, built by the European Space Agency, for launch on a 930,000-mile journey<\/strong>, it\u2019s truly amazing . . . at least to me.\u00a0 Once it reached its destination, a 21-foot mirror<\/strong> and a tennis court-sized sunshield<\/strong> was unfolded. \u00a0This large light collecting area can look further back in time than any previous telescope \u2013 don\u2019t think about that for too long or your brain will start hurting!\u00a0 \u00a0If any of the attachments failed to unfold properly, the mission would have been scrubbed, as there would be no way to reach and repair this telescope, which is 100 times more powerful that its predecessor, the Hubble Telescope<\/strong>.\u00a0 Once the JWST was in place, attachments deployed, instruments turned on, mirrors aligned and the optics of the telescope were cooled, along with other stuff that none of us normal people would understand, the telescope started sending back amazing images starting in July 2022.\u00a0 It\u2019s mind boggling to me how the space agencies could work on something 930,000 miles away when I can\u2019t even get my wi-fi working!\u00a0 They estimate that it will continue to send photographs back to us for the next five to ten years.\u00a0 Cost?\u00a0 About $10 Billion<\/strong>.\u00a0 Not bad when you consider we\u2019ve already spent more than $50 Billion on Ukraine.<\/p>\n The ‘Other’ Ringed Planet<\/p><\/div>\n Photo Op: If you were to guess the name of the planet with the rings in the photo on the left, you might guess Saturn<\/strong>, because of the rings.\u00a0 Nope, it\u2019s Neptune<\/strong>.\u00a0 Yep, Neptune has rings; they\u2019re not as spectacular as Saturn\u2019s, but rings none the less.\u00a0 Because Neptune is 30 times<\/strong> further from the Sun than Earth, it hasn\u2019t been easy to photograph, but this recent close-up photo taken by the JWST last year, showed its rings.<\/p>\n If you want to know more of the basics of this scientific wonder, below is a link to a 13-minute, 60 Minutes<\/em><\/strong> segment on the JWST prior to its launch in late 2021.<\/p>\n https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=sMxdeUJ0v2c<\/a><\/p>\n Hopefully that was interesting to some of you.\u00a0 To keep the integrity of the science involved here, I purposely avoided any Uranus jokes.\u00a0 You\u2019re welcome!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Bob Sparrow I\u2019ve searched high and low for something to write about this week.\u00a0 Yes, I was just out in \u2018the desert\u2019, had a great time, but you\u2019ve heard those stories before.\u00a0 I have some fun trips planned for … read more![\"\"](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/JWST.jpg\")
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