NASA, ESA and CSA (the Canadians) got the Christmas present they wanted, a successful launch of the James Webb ST. and now a successful deployment.
It is now on it’s way to the L2 Lagrange Point, some 1.5 million km (almost 1 million miles) from the earth.
You can follow the telescopes progress on the NASA “Where is Webb” page <HERE>.
It’s December 2021 and the final moment in a saga, started in 1996, to build and launch a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is due to be hoisted aloft by an Arian 5 rocket from French Guiana on the 22nd. It will then take some 6 months to deploy before any science can be done.
It is a very complex engineering project and there are a host of things that can go wrong during its deployment, so fingers crossed.
JWST is an infra red telescope covering the wavelengths 0.6 to 28.3 µm, cf the visual range of 0.38 to 0.76 µm. This will enable it to look back to the era of the origin of stars and galaxies.
The main objectives of the JWST mission are:-
1) To investigate the light from the dawn of the universe some 13 billion years ago;
2) To study the formation of the first galaxies;
3) To look for the first generation stars and better understand the formation of stars and their planetary systems;
4) To study planetary systems in the Milky Way and potentially analyse the atmospheres of and look for signs of life from these planets.
In order to protect the instrument from the Sun, earth and moon, to get its operating temperature as low as possible, and increase its sensitivity, it is being placed at the Lagrange L2 position, some 1 million miles away in line with the sun and earth, with a huge parasol to protect it. If anything goes wrong then that is it, it cannot be serviced like the HST was!
Further information is at the following LINKs: NASA, ESA and the Space Telescope Science Institute.
Quanta Magazine has also just published an article, at LINK, and there is a video at LINK.
Following my email earlier this week I have had some photos sent to me.
I have included one from Tony P-F on the home page slide show and another of his, M42 the Orion nebula, has been loaded up on the Gallery/Deepsky photo page LINK
Any other photos for inclusion I am more than happy to receive. It would be nice to rotate members photos on the home page, a maximum of 4 photos can be used at any one time. Just email them to me.
An observing group is being formed that any members can join. The idea is that you register your details with a WhatsApp group (the Astronomy Observing Group) and from time to time when members are going out to observe and they want some company a notfication will pop up on your smart phone. Obviously you will need a WhatsApp account but that it is. It is open to anyone whatever your experience or equipment – even just a pair of eyes and an interest. You can leave the group anytime to stop the notifications. The issue it addresses is that some members would like to do some observing but may lack experience or just want some company, also to book events more than a day or so in advance given the weather in South Wales is asking for problems.
To join the group simply send your details to Andrew Lohfink, the coordinator. You can do this by texting Andrew on his mobile phone number which is 07506448815. In the message please include your full name, the society you are a member of (if any) and a request to join the observing group, Andrew will then add you to the list. Andrew is the custodian of this data and it will not be used for any other purpose.
I have changed the theme and may continue to “tinker” with it for a while. So, please excuse me doing so on a live page. Any comments – good/bad/indifferent are welcome.
It is providing difficult (for me anyway!) to get the page menu displaying on the web page so I have used another theme to achieve that.
I’m not overly keen on this set up but it will do as a temporary option for the moment. What do you think?
A notice from Simon at Bath Astronomers.
Register free on Eventbrite.
The Caroline Herschel Prize Lecture 2021 has been awarded to Dr Jenny Carter, University of Leicester, and you are invited to the online, free to attend event this coming month. It is entitled “Earth versus Sun: a precarious relationship in space” and is being held on Zoom at 7pm on Thursday 18th November.
You need to register for the free event via Eventbrite beforehand using the link https://tinyurl.com/2tjzdz3m. Details of the Zoom meeting will be sent to you in due course.
The talk:
The intimate, yet turbulent relationship between the Sun and Earth dominates space around our planet. We are familiar with one consequence of this interaction, through the spectacular displays of aurora, and other effects include currents induced in long distance cables, or the loss of signals and damage to spacecraft. Collectively, we term these effects `’space weather’. Understanding this space weather is paramount for our technology-dependent society.
In this talk, we will explore how our Earth is protected from the Sun’s solar wind by its magnetic field. We will follow how the Earth’s magnetic field gets buffered and altered, as the solar blows stronger, weaker, or changes direction. We will see how the SMILE spacecraft will soon revolutionise our view of near-Earth space by taking the first images of the solar-terrestrial interaction. Space near Earth is highly dynamic and volatile, and this drama is played right above our heads.
The Caroline Herschel Prize Lectureship is awarded annually and previous recipients include Dr Becky Smethurst, Dr Anna Lisa Varri, and Dr Sarah Rugheimer. It is awarded by the Herschel Society, in association with the Royal Astronomical Society, to celebrate Caroline’s memory by supporting promising women astronomers early in their careers.
