Posted on 06/30/2022 1:57:03 PM PDT by LibWhacker
NASA is set to release the first pictures taken by the highly sophisticated James Webb Space Telescope next month, agency officials announced on Wednesday.
In a highly anticipated ceremony on July 12, NASA and its collaborators, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, will present the first collection of full-color photos from the Webb telescope.
The $10 billion observatory is the biggest and most powerful space telescope ever built, and scientists have predicted that it will drastically alter how we understand the universe, per a report from NBC News.
NASA will begin a live stream of the presentation of the images at 10:30 A.M. EDT. Space agency officials said they will publish the Webb telescope's first spectrum of an exoplanet, which displays light emitted at various wavelengths from a planet in another star system, in addition to the deepest infrared image of the universe ever acquired. The atmospheres and chemical composition of other exoplanets in the universe may be better understood in light of these images.
The first wave of James Webb Space Telescope Images will also demonstrate how galaxies interact and develop, as well as pictures of the life cycle of stars, from their birth to their catastrophic demise.
NASA Officials Tease First James Webb Space Telescope Images
Thomas Zurbuchen, an associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate, described his experience of seeing the first images of the James Webb Telescope as an unveiling of "secrets that have been there for many, many decades, centuries, millennia."
"It's not an image. It's a new worldview," Zurbuchen said in a media briefing streamed on YouTube.
NASA deputy administrator Pam Melroy was astonished by the photos taken by the space observatory, Ars Technica reported.
Melroy stated: "What I have seen moved me, as a scientist, as an engineer, and as a human being."
Despite suffering from five micrometeoroid impacts, the James Webb Telescope is still in good shape due to a precise launch by the European Space Agency's Ariane 5 rocket that provides enough maneuvering propellant on board, loaded with fuel that can last 20 years.
According to NASA administrator Bill Nelson, the first batch of images will show "farther than humanity has ever looked before," adding that humanity "is only beginning to understand what Webb can and will do."
Latest Space Observatory Is Expected To Surpass Hubble Space Telescope's Capabilities
On December 25, 2021, the Webb telescope, the size of a tennis court, was sent into space from Kourou, French Guiana, and entered orbit in January 2022.
James Webb Telescope images could surpass the Hubble Space Telescope's deep imaging fields, which indicate galaxies in our universe began as soon as a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, which occurred approximately 13.7 billion years ago, per Space News.
It took NASA six months to configure the James Webb Telescope in orbit and test its several scientific instruments.
According to a CNN report, Webb project manager Bill Ochs and his team are taking the final steps in preparing the observatory to collect scientific data, which will conclude next week.
So has this “eclipsed” Hubbell...or replaced it?
I see on the video that the NASA Administrator is Bill Nelson, the sorry azzed former Florida Democrat senator.
Eclipsed is probably the right word. Hubble will be around a while and can be serviced. No such luck with the Webb.
Development began in 1996 for a launch initially planned for 2007 with a US$500 million budget. I’ve been keeping track the whole time. It was Obviously one delay after another with the cost ballooning to 9.8 billion dollars. I believe long after we are all gone it will be remembered as a great milestone with all the costs and delays merely footnotes to its story.
Hubble will be around a while and can be serviced.
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When they bring a Shuttle out of a museum and put it a launch pad - otherwise Hubble is on its own - its too high to service and the last Shuttle service missions were a huge risk.
One of my jobs at Boeing was as a “Project engineer”.
I was quickly taught to not provide all the information.
If the early cost of a system was known up front it would never be approved, but the system was needed. Catch 22.
Consequently whenever I was on a review board for other projects after given a projected cost and time line, I always assumed double to triple the cost and a longer time frame.
Hell of a way to do business. They are all liars.
I had similar jobs. I hated it.
Neither. It is a separate instrument placed at L2 which gives it a great dark field to look at
It was designed and built to capture first light
Had the specs not continuously changed you would not have had lateness or budgetary increases
So you're saying the upcoming revealed results of this telescope are bogus and not worth the investment?
Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Once fully operational it replaces it as our best telescope. It can see further back into history than hubble can.
Hubble will be a spotter scope looking at areas of interest, then JW will look at those areas in detail.
No I’m referring to the money part.
I’m really familiar with the science part and the
Webb will be extraordinary.
But if told up front it was going to cost
as much as it had, it would have never been funded.
Those are some bold statements. I look forward to seeing them.
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“It’s not an image. It’s a new worldview”
“What I have seen moved me, as a scientist, as an engineer, and as a human being.”
“images will show “farther than humanity has ever looked before,” adding that humanity “is only beginning to understand what Webb can and will do.”
Hubble might not be able spot what JWT can see. Everything we can detect or see, we have catalogs of as well as their locations or coordinates, but this changes all that. They're going to need bigger catalogs.
I hope the images reveal some spectacular objects...or maybe something beyond spectacular.
Correct, but it can find areas of interest to explore in greater detail with JW. Thats how I heard they will use zhubble until it stops working for one reason or another.
They already have a list of places for JW to look at from certain areas Hubble has previously been pointed at.
I just can't see JWT needing Hubble to image or locate any targets of interest, especially when the Hubble data and target locations can be readily programed or sent to the scope.
It would save a lot of time, avoiding having to WAIT for signals from earth
That is funny.
After almost 30 years at Intel, we were expected to let management know as soon as possible of possible problems.
You never got punished or demoted because you raised a flag.
Myself and about 10 others knew about the Pentium “Floating Point Flaw” but we were ordered to cover it up by the project head who had sizable stock options based on how many we sold.
When word got out he ordered it covered it up, he was quietly fired.
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