James Webb Telescope

So this is pretty exciting for us space geeks:

https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-59632757

I sure hope they got the "eyesight" squared away as this one will be too far out to go put a pair of spectacles on!  It's pretty amazing how they've got it packaged to launch and will deploy once in outer space. I'm sure there are going to be many breathless moments for everyone!

Cool! I wonder what a deep space time exposure will look like from that!???

A time exposure of blank space, but taken over a time exposure of days yields this.
https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/30946

That’s very cool. I hope the launch and deployment go smoothly. It’s quite an engineering challenge on so many levels not the least of which is designing a sensitive instrument that can withstand the forces of being launched free if earth’s atmosphere and hurled 1.5 million kilometres into space and then deploy itself in the ultimate Transformer-esque operation and the operate within very narrow parameters with no opportunity for direct adjustment or repair. No pressure on the design/build/deploy team though. Only $10B on the line. If it fails there’s no bonuses for anybody. Except the executives. They always get their bonus.

Great. We've come so far since Neil Armstrong's famous step, but we still have much father to go.

What I'd like to see be determined is whether or not our universe is curved. If it is, looking "deep" enough we'd see our own Milky Way, but the other side of it. But how would we know what we're even looking at? It's bigger than I am for sure.

Hopefully the point it at the Zeta Reticuli star system... (only 39 light years from earth)

https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna38105169

https://www.reddit.com/r/NoMansSkyTheGam...m_and_nms/

Success! (At least in launching...)
https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/na...y-rcna9911

Pretty incredible. Pics are going to be amazing.

A pharmacy classmate (and good friend) posted a congratulations to her cousin on FB. Her cousin has worked on this Webb program for over a decade, and was interviewed in an article this week in The Atlantic magazine! Sort of 6 degrees, I know, but kinda cool even if I don't know the cousin!