JWST Countdown To Terror 😳

[Macavity]

Nice Video showing current status of alignment! So you think you have
"collimation problems"? lol. The "selfie" is a nice touch - C.f. my remote
"Obsy. Cam" - Always good to know a telescope is still actually THERE! 🥳

https://youtu.be/QlwatKpla8s (Could be a duplicate of above - Sorry!).
Always a slew(?) of Scientists wanting to "re-post" stuff, these days? 🤣

Edited February 13, 2022 by Macavity

[Ags]

The JWST is a scope for those dob extremists who claim to enjoy collimation!

[Sunshine]

Imagine launching an equal sized refractor into space, Forbthe sake of argument picture a 21ft triplet the size of a rocket itself hurled into space by other rockets attached to it which separate. Once in orbit the nose cone pops off revealing a giant objective with science instruments where ones eye would Normally be, would such a refracting space telescope outperform the reflecting webb??  Let’s put the impossibilities of launch and other technical hurdles aside for a moment.

This could be fun to discuss or, a clever way for me to start a fight 🤪

 

Edited February 13, 2022 by Sunshine

[andrew s]

1 hour ago, Ags said:

The JWST is a scope for those dob extremists who claim to enjoy collimation!

At least they don't need to wait for a clear night and work on it 24 / 7 Regards Andrew 

[andrew s]

17 minutes ago, Sunshine said:

Imagine launching an equal sized refractor into space, Forbthe sake of argument picture a 21ft triplet the size of a rocket itself hurled into space by other rockets attached to it which separate. Once in orbit the nose cone pops off revealing a giant objective with science instruments where ones eye would Normally be, would such a refracting space telescope outperform the reflecting webb??  Let’s put the impossibilities of launch and other technical hurdles aside for a moment.

This could be fun to discuss or, a clever way for me to start a fight 🤪

 

Of course not. It would have issues with achromatic distortion and absorption just to highlight the most obvious ones.

Regards Andrew 😤

[Sunshine]

32 minutes ago, andrew s said:

Of course not. It would have issues with achromatic distortion and absorption just to highlight the most obvious ones.

Regards Andrew 😤

No way, why would it have those? you made those up 😂

[Macavity]

At least the JWST (probably) has well designed / functional "adjusters"...
- Unlike that ones, many struggle with, on typical out-of-the-box Newt? 🤪

That said, having read a little on the subject, adjusting any (hypothetical)
e.g. "triplet lens" would seem well into the realm of the "specialist lab". 😉
(You can't just "send it back" anyway. lol)

[Laurieast]

Webb Team Brings 18 Dots of Starlight Into Hexagonal Formation.

https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/02/18/webb-team-brings-18-dots-of-starlight-into-hexagonal-formation/

 

[callisto]

Ooh, it's all getting a bit exciting isn't it.

[Mr Spock]

As a member of Yorkshire proofreaders, I need to rename this thread countdahn t'error... 

[Laurieast]

https://twitter.com/NASAWebb

NASA Webb has completed 2 more phases of its 3-month mirror alignment process: First, the team made adjustments to its mirror segments & updated the alignment of its secondary mirror, refining each of the 18 dots of starlight from its 18 mirror segments. 

Then, each of those 18 dots was stacked to produce one unified image. Up next: fine-tuning this single dot of starlight to make it progressively sharper. 

 

progressively sharper.

Edited February 25, 2022 by Laurieast

[Sunshine]

This is neat, I guess they haven't updated their 'where is Webb" site yet as it still shows individual dots fo each mirror.

 

[Laurieast]

1 hour ago, Sunshine said:

This is neat, I guess they haven't updated their 'where is Webb" site yet as it still shows individual dots fo each mirror.

It was hiding 😉

https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/02/25/webb-mirror-alignment-continues-successfully/

[SuburbanMak]

Just seen this alignment image showing galaxies in the background too! 
 

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-s-webb-reaches-alignment-milestone-optics-working-successfully

[Pixies]

The 6 spikes will be from the hexagonal edges of the mirrors, but I assume the  smaller 'horizontal' one is from the secondary strut:

 

Apparently it's getting 0.07 arcsecond resolution! 🤯

[Swoop1]

There are certainly a lot of fuzzies on view in there!

[Floater]

Every step of the way so far has proved to be nothing short of a master class in excellence. 👍

Once again, Go Webb! 🙏

[Craney]

Do you think they are using PhD2  ??

... and somebody needs to take the Bahtinov mask off.

.... even the best of us have done it....  doh!!!!

[Adam J]

was reading about the image scale and interestingly it has no greater resolution than HST did. 

Adam

[Sunshine]

WOW! looking at the evaluation image after fine phasing is complete, I had to jump for my glasses in order to appreciate all the galaxies in the background, simply astonishing!.

Note: if the image is opened from NASA' webpage it can be then opened in full res.

Edited March 16, 2022 by Sunshine

[Highburymark]

Magnificent image. I wonder if this was chosen as a galaxy-rich area to provide an impressive backdrop to the star, or is that just a random section of cosmos? 
 

[Highburymark]

1 hour ago, Floater said:

Every step of the way so far has proved to be nothing short of a master class in excellence. 👍

Once again, Go Webb! 🙏

Indeed. Rather wish I was up there. Would be nice to get away from the Earth for a while.

[SuburbanMak]

2 hours ago, Highburymark said:

Magnificent image. I wonder if this was chosen as a galaxy-rich area to provide an impressive backdrop to the star, or is that just a random section of cosmos? 
 

As far as I am aware they chose the star for its suitability for alignment - not considering the eventual wider field. Don’t know what their criteria were. 

[Adam J]

6 hours ago, Adam J said:

was reading about the image scale and interestingly it has no greater resolution than HST did. 

Adam

@Sunshine i see you are confused, the resolution in terms of arcseconds has not improved because the wavelength of the light is much longer WEB being a IR observatory and not a visible light observatory. Also I must assume that the pixel size is larger to account for longer wavelength IR detectors. 

Adam

 

Edited March 17, 2022 by Adam J

[Mr Spock]

It's working, it's working!