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NASA reveals telescope's giant golden mirror


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The impressive gold-coated mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope has been revealed in all its glory.

The successor to NASA's successful Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb will be the most powerful space telescope in the world when it launches in around two years' time.

Read More: http://www.unexplain...t-golden-mirror

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I know they will learn a lot, but it's a pity it won't be using the visible spectrum, the Hubble images were so amazing.

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Very cool! I hope to see amazing things from this telescope in the future.

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I know they will learn a lot, but it's a pity it won't be using the visible spectrum, the Hubble images were so amazing.

Sundew, they will be able to derive data and make images like Hubble's but this incredible machine will change how we see the universe. Hubble's shortcomings and discoveries were the basis for this observatories design and the discoveries will be equally as groundbreaking,

So many things have to work correctly in unbelievable conditions that I think this will be NASA's greatest challenge ever and greatest achievement if they succeed.

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So many things have to work correctly in unbelievable conditions that I think this will be NASA's greatest challenge ever and greatest achievement if they succeed.

Let's not forget the roles being played by ESA and CSA in bringing this amazing project to fruition!

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I know they will learn a lot, but it's a pity it won't be using the visible spectrum, the Hubble images were so amazing.

There is little point in Webb looking at the visible wavelengths. Advances in technology, particularly in adaptive optics, since Hubble was designed and launched mean that ground based telescopes can often match and exceed Hubble and Webb's capabilities at a fraction of the cost. The JWST only makes sense if it is making observations that ground based telescopes can't.

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The powers that be have set up a web cam in the clean / assembly room to watch the progress of the JWST .

http://jwst.nasa.gov/webcam.html

Edited by ROGER
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There is little point in Webb looking at the visible wavelengths. Advances in technology, particularly in adaptive optics, since Hubble was designed and launched mean that ground based telescopes can often match and exceed Hubble and Webb's capabilities at a fraction of the cost. The JWST only makes sense if it is making observations that ground based telescopes can't.

Indeed.

If you want to look at visible wavelenghts there is no need to go into space, but infrared radiation is absorbed by the athmoshere. So no matter how large you make an infrared telescope on Earth, it will never be able to get anywhere near the same resolution as a spacebased telescope.

Ground based telescopes are going through a revolution at the moment. I know I have posted this before, but it is so amazing that I will do it again:

512px-Comparison_optical_telescope_primary_mirrors.svg.png

I remember a time when the BTA-6 was considered to be the largest a telescope could possibly be. Not so much any more. :tu:

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Hopefully this Webb Cam don't need contacts like Hubble did.

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I am so unbelievably impressed that they are going to launch this enormous, incredibly delicate, piece of hardware into orbit on top of an exploding rocket generating earthquake sized vibrations and roller coaster g-forces and have it function once it's there.

There are days when I feel I'm pretty good at what I do, and then I see people accomplishing engineering on this scale and realize that I just mostly suck.

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Hopefully this Webb Cam don't need contacts like Hubble did.

I remember that mess and I thought, at the time, that coupled with the still fresh in our minds Challenger disaster, the Hubble screw-up may just spell the end of NASA. The subsequent repair was NASA at its best, from the engineers who designed the corrective optics and new instruments to the shuttle crew who carried out the myriad repairs and upgrades over 10 long days. The first images after the repair mission were perfect and the rest is history.

One advantage the JWST will have is each of the mirror segments can move and place its mirror in its correct position. Obviously a badly designed mirror wouldn't be correctible but I think NASA has learned its lesson with Hubble. Unlike Hubble there will be no repair mission for JWST a sit isn't designed to be repaired and will be very far away.

Edited by Merc14
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I remember that mess and I thought, at the time, that coupled with the still fresh in our minds Challenger disaster, the Hubble screw-up may just spell the end of NASA. The subsequent repair was NASA at its best, from the engineers who designed the corrective optics and new instruments to the shuttle crew who carried out the myriad repairs and upgrades over 10 long days. The first images after the repair mission were perfect and the rest is history.

One advantage the JWST will have is each of the mirror segments can move and place its mirror in its correct position. Obviously a badly designed mirror wouldn't be correctible but I think NASA has learned its lesson with Hubble. Unlike Hubble there will be no repair mission for JWST a sit isn't designed to be repaired and will be very far away.

It is interesting that the diagram provided by NEIAC compares the sizes of modern telescopes with the lens of the Great Paris Exhibition Telescope of 1900. This telescope (with an objective lens 50 inches in diameter, it was the largest refractor ever built) was a flop and was never used scientifically. Because it was initially intended for exhibition purposes - i.e. to thrill the public with the marvels of science - it was not given a proper mount. Then, the two lenses were found to be badly figured (a bit like the problem with the Hubble). The telescope was sold for scrap and the lenses now reside in a packing case in the basement of the Paris Observatory. Fortunately, NASA had the determination to make sure the Hubble didn't end up as a laughing stock like the Great Paris Exhibition Telescope.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Paris_Exhibition_Telescope_of_1900

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5 new telescopes coming on line between 2018 (JWST) and 2022 (30 meter and EELT) that are all going to be game changers in their own right. Truly an amazing time to be an astronomer.

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I am so unbelievably impressed that they are going to launch this enormous, incredibly delicate, piece of hardware into orbit on top of an exploding rocket generating earthquake sized vibrations and roller coaster g-forces and have it function once it's there.

Not to mention avoiding the 170 million tiny bits of space debris flying at high speed around the Earth. The ISS maneuvers to avoid the big pieces and has shielding for the smaller ones, but I don't think most of the telescopes have either of those abilities.

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Not to mention avoiding the 170 million tiny bits of space debris flying at high speed around the Earth. The ISS maneuvers to avoid the big pieces and has shielding for the smaller ones, but I don't think most of the telescopes have either of those abilities.

Firstly the 170 million figure is extremely alarmist as most of that is too small to cause damage, even too a satellite without the ISS's level of shielding.

Secondly as the Webb Telescope will not be in Earth orbit this will not be a problem anyway. It will placed at the Sun-Earth L2 point, 1 million miles from the Earth,

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Firstly the 170 million figure is extremely alarmist as most of that is too small to cause damage, even too a satellite without the ISS's level of shielding.

Secondly as the Webb Telescope will not be in Earth orbit this will not be a problem anyway. It will placed at the Sun-Earth L2 point, 1 million miles from the Earth,

Sweet! I guess I showed some ignorance there, as I didn't know it was going to the L2 point.

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