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TILTNSTACK t1_iwqn61t wrote

It seemed like forever waiting for JWST to launch.

Now it’s proving it was well worth the wait. Every week there is something amazing and new.

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King_Pecca t1_iwr60zd wrote

Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey (CEERS)... nice acronym. Cheers

Edit: "In NIRSpec's multi-object mode, which uses roughly a quarter of a million tiny configurable shutters, Webb will be able to obtain spectra of up to 200 targets at once."

I find this an amazing technique.

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Gramage t1_iwrv3va wrote

The whole damn project blows my mind with the level of engineering involved. Not just how advanced the technology of the device itself is, but how perfectly it went off. The launch was so perfect it saved on manoeuvring (I hate spelling that word) fuel and extended its lifespan by many years. The extremely delicate origami unfolding process, with 344 single points of failure any one of which would have completely scrapped the mission, went off without a hitch. It coasted 1.5 million kilometres and ended up exactly in Earth's second Lagrange point, like throwing a basketball really hard from Toronto and hitting nothing but net in Vancouver. The only thing that went wrong was basically an act of god, one mirror segment got dinged with a 0.1mm micrometeoroid, which has barely had an effect on overall performance.

Humans can do some amazing stuff when we put our heads together. We seem to waste a lot of our talent fighting over black organic goop and old holy books though...

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Gramage t1_iwshvm9 wrote

That's why I didn't capitalize the G lol. I meant it simply as something very random that's essentially impossible to predict or prevent.

Besides, Krishna told me it was him this time, but Amun made him do it! ;)

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MeMyselfandsadlyI t1_iwthce4 wrote

i really hate the way these articles are written....uNdIsCoVeReD cOuNtRy....its called a fcking Galaxy cluster...you aint smarter for using words that that dont fit the description of galactic objects...cringe

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the6thReplicant t1_iwtlqt4 wrote

I still remember when they were first designing the telescope and a group of engineers went to Japan to study origami to see if any techniques could be used when folding the telescope to the size they needed.

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HeberSeeGull t1_iwtxm2y wrote

Your comment has such an attractive blend of information, critical thinking, and positive outlook. Your communication skills make you a fine online teacher. Whoever you work for is lucky to have you on staff. I second your admiration for the NASA engineers who continue to amaze.

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