The James Webb Space Telescope Thread

[Brisketexan 104548]

5 minutes ago, sidis said:

this one will definitely make you feel a little bit better about humanity and a good reminder that there are still some awesome people out there working together for worthwhile stuff who don't suck.

On a serious note....we're family with one of the astrophysicists involved with the Webb from its inception.  When it launched, when it deployed and worked, the absolute joy and excitement that these grown-ass men demonstrated was pretty damn cool.

[thunderlounge 7753]

25 minutes ago, sidis said:

this one will definitely make you feel a little bit better about humanity and a good reminder that there are still some awesome people out there working together for worthwhile stuff who don't suck.

 

[BamaATL 16592]

1 hour ago, Brisketexan said:

On a serious note....we're family with one of the astrophysicists involved with the Webb from its inception.  When it launched, when it deployed and worked, the absolute joy and excitement that these grown-ass men demonstrated was pretty damn cool.

I can't imagine working on something for as long as those folks did, where every single aspect of it has to go just perfectly in order for it to work, or else its a complete bust.  It's a marvel on so many levels, not the least of which to me is how it was folded up and launched into space, then had something like 137 steps for it to deploy correctly.  All the while, it's traveling to a Lagrange point about 1 million miles away.  I know if I'd worked on something like that for 30 years, to see it come to fruition, you're damn right I'm celebrating it.  It's an amazing achievement, and more than that, for the people that have been with it since the beginning, it's a life long dream and achievement.  Not very many people get to be involved with anything in the generational pinnacle of their field; they should be incredibly proud.  

[Brisketexan 104548]

Watched the documentary tonight. So fucking cool.
And, like when we watched the IMAX film on Hubble…we ended up in a theological discussion. We related the tale of the three rabbis who looked upon the face of God: one committed suicide, the second went mad, and the third said “there is no God.”
To us, these images, and the story of the vast and complex universe they tell, is a reflection of the divine. We humans put divinity in too small a box (because we are small creatures, from a small place). TWO TRILLION galaxies. This universe is incomprehensibly vast, and full of light and matter. It’s staggering. Terrifying. Beautiful.

[pantone159 712]

4 hours ago, BamaATL said:

I can't imagine working on something for as long as those folks did, where every single aspect of it has to go just perfectly in order for it to work, or else its a complete bust.  It's a marvel on so many levels, not the least of which to me is how it was folded up and launched into space, then had something like 137 steps for it to deploy correctly.  All the while, it's traveling to a Lagrange point about 1 million miles away.  I know if I'd worked on something like that for 30 years, to see it come to fruition, you're damn right I'm celebrating it.  It's an amazing achievement, and more than that, for the people that have been with it since the beginning, it's a life long dream and achievement.  Not very many people get to be involved with anything in the generational pinnacle of their field; they should be incredibly proud.  

It had to be an incredible relief when the launch went ok and it folded out ok also. The project took so long that it is basically entire careers for some people. It could have blown to smithereens, but instead it is working and you KNOW it will find something very interesting in the IR spectrum. The relief that something you have worried about for 30 years is now ok must be very welcome.

[BamaATL 16592]

5 minutes ago, pantone159 said:

It had to be an incredible relief when the launch went ok and it folded out ok also. The project took so long that it is basically entire careers for some people. It could have blown to smithereens, but instead it is working and you KNOW it will find something very interesting in the IR spectrum. The relief that something you have worried about for 30 years is now ok must be very welcome.

If it were me, I'd have greased myself up and run around the neighborhood naked spreading good cheer.  Unfortunately for my neighbors, that's just a normal Friday night, but these are serious people who probably would reserve that sort of thing for a more dignified moment.  

[Foosters 17726]

17 hours ago, sidis said:

this one will definitely make you feel a little bit better about humanity and a good reminder that there are still some awesome people out there working together for worthwhile stuff who don't suck.

My wife and I watched it the other night. I had this same thought. Definitely worth a watch.

[atomheartbevo 89404]

24 minutes ago, Foosters said:

My wife and I watched it the other night. I had this same thought. Definitely worth a watch.

Watched it last night.  Really solid and really amazing engineering.  

[Hermanator 6932]

Webb appears to have discovered first ever evidence of a "Hycean World"

https://www.nasa.gov/goddard/2023/webb-discovers-methane-carbon-dioxide-in-atmosphere-of-k2-18b

It has imaged an exoplanet that appears to be a water ocean world in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star that has a mostly hydrogen atmosphere with CO2, methane, and absence of much ammonia which is thought to be a biosignature. 

Early reports also suggest it has dimethyl sulfide in it's atmosphere which on earth is only produced by life. Mostly by phytoplankton in the oceans and it's also a techno-signature produced by human industry. 

They're going to be spending some time really staring at this thing coming up in the near future. 

[BamaATL 16592]

1 hour ago, Hermanator said:

Webb appears to have discovered first ever evidence of a "Hycean World"

https://www.nasa.gov/goddard/2023/webb-discovers-methane-carbon-dioxide-in-atmosphere-of-k2-18b

It has imaged an exoplanet that appears to be a water ocean world in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star that has a mostly hydrogen atmosphere with CO2, methane, and absence of much ammonia which is thought to be a biosignature. 

Early reports also suggest it has dimethyl sulfide in it's atmosphere which on earth is only produced by life. Mostly by phytoplankton in the oceans and it's also a techno-signature produced by human industry. 

They're going to be spending some time really staring at this thing coming up in the near future. 

That's a really exciting discovery because it implies complicated life; while not direct proof, it's a big step.  It's mass being 8.6 times Earth means that as we currently understand, and with our technology, we wouldn't have the ability to escape gravity on this planet, but that doesn't mean we've reached the peak of that sort of technology.  I've long suspected that eventually we will discover that microbial life is pretty much everywhere, complicated life is rare, intelligent complicated life rarer still, and space faring or space faring capable life rarer still.  To what level of rarity per each of those remains to be seen, but this is a really exciting discovery because it's potentially 2 steps up that ladder.  Considering that Webb has only been at about a year, it's very impressive.  

[Elvis 3356]

That's pretty cool.  It's pretty close at 120 light years away, but that planet hasn't even received our first radio signals sent into space yet.

[thunderlounge 7753]

True. 
 

Think of it this way; from that planets vantage point, they’re about to watch our little blue sphere start to light up the night sky as the lights continue coming on in 1903