Webb-y Wednesday

Caption: August 2013 James Webb Space Telescope mural image. Artist's impression.

Credit: Northrop Grumman

THE NEXT GENERATION:  This morning, thanks to an 'Image of the Day from NASA,' we got on a kick about the James Webb Space Telescope.  It's bigger, better and badder than the famous Hubble. ;)

A large space telescope, it's optimized for infrared wavelengths. NASA tells us that Webb will find the first galaxies that formed in the early Universe.  It will peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems, connecting the Milky Way to our own solar system.

The space telescope will have a large mirror (6.5 meters (21.3 feet) in diameter) and a sunshield the size of a tennis court. Since the mirror and sunshade won't fit into a rocket fully open, both will be folded and open once Webb is in outer space. After traveling a ways (1.5 million km from Earth!), Webb will be put into an orbit and get to work.

Here's a quick, slickly-produced primer on the amazing invention ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QMRamEFAQU4


In this photo, courtesy of NASA (of course), a crane in a clean room at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland lowers a test mass simulator onto the Ambient Optical Assembly Stand.


In case you're wondering, the Webb telescope was named after James E. Webb, who ran the fledgling NASA from February 1961 to October 1968.

There's a ""Webb" cam, where you can watch what's going on with the telescope's construction.   It's not a streaming video feed, but still images of the right and left side of the cleanroom in Building 29 at Goddard Space Center.  The images are updated every minute.  The clean room is typically only occupied between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday.

The cam operators suggest viewers keep an eye out for the ISIM Structure, a large, black, "latticed" box which will hold Webb's science instruments. Test versions of several of the telescope's instruments are sometimes visible in the cleanroom.

The large structure taking up the right side of the clean room is the Ambient Optical Assembly Stand (AOAS), which will be used to assemble the mirrors and instruments of the James Webb Space Telescope.

Presently, NASA is aiming toward a 2018 launch date for Webb. It's an international effort, with NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and theCanadian Space Agency (CSA) partnering on the project.

ANOTHER NIGHT, ANOTHER CONCERT:  Short post today because we're off to Auburn, WA, and the White River Amphitheater to see Gavin McGraw, The Script and Train (the latter being, by far, the biggest draw for us). Should be another interesting evening.  I'll leave you with this (seems especially appropriate since we saw Daryl Hall last night).

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