Posted on 12/31/2021 2:50:50 PM PST by MtnClimber
Explanation: This timelapse gif tracks the James Webb Space Telescope as it streaks across the stars of Orion on its journey to a destination beyond the Moon. Recorded on December 28, 12 consecutive exposures each 10 minutes long were aligned and combined with a subsequent color image of the background stars to create the animation. About 2.5 days after its December 25 launch, JWST cruised past the altitude of the Moon's orbit as it climbed up the gravity ridge from Earth to reach a halo orbit around L2, an Earth-Sun Lagrange point. Lagrange points are convenient locations in space where the combined gravitational attraction of one massive body (Earth) orbiting another massive body (Sun) is in balance with the centripetal force needed to move along with them. So much smaller masses, like spacecraft, will tend to stay there. One of 5 Lagrange points, L2 is about 1.5 million kilometers from Earth directly along the Earth-Sun line. JWST will arrive at L2 on January 23, 29 days after launch. While relaxing in Earth's surface gravity you can follow the James Webb Space Telescope's progress and complicated deployment online.
For more detail go to the link and click on the image for a high definition image. You can then move the magnifying glass cursor then click to zoom in and click again to zoom out. When zoomed in you can scan by moving the side bars on the bottom and right side of the image.
Happy New Year to Astronomy Picture of the Day Viewers new and old!
bttt
I know it’s dumb but when I see photos/video like this .. It seems so damn lonely. 8-(
Everyday I look here to see the telescopes progress:
https://webb.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/whereIsWebb.html
It just passed the halfway point.
Been watching for the deployment stages.
Yes, but remember that it is constantly slowing as it is going 'up-hill' against the gravity gradients of Earth and Sol. It still has 20+ days to go.
Happy New Year to you, and many thanks for posting the APOD!
It’s gonna be a long 20 days. And then all the testing, and ONLY after it is successfully deployed.
Happy New Year! Beautiful .gif!
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