NASA unveils the first EVER images from its James Webb Space Telescope including a SELFIE
This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Omaha Steve (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).
Source: Daily Mail
NASA unveils the first EVER images from its James Webb Space Telescope including a SELFIE - but reassures the blurry snaps are just a 'starting point' as it fine-tunes its mirrors
NASA has unveiled the first ever images from its James Webb Space Telescope, including a 'selfie' of its primary mirror. The $10 billion (£7.4 billion) observatory settled into its orbit one million miles from our planet last month, and is gearing up to look back in time towards the dawn of the universe. It had been expected to take its first starry images in May, for release to the public in June, but the US space agency revealed plans to share preliminary snaps today instead.
The result is an image mosaic of 18 randomly organised dots of starlight, the product of Webb's unaligned mirror segments all reflecting light from the same star back at its secondary mirror and into the telescope's main camera, called the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam). What looks like a simple image of blurry starlight now becomes the foundation to align and focus the telescope in order for Webb to deliver unprecedented views of the universe this summer, NASA said. Over the next month or so, a team of scientists will gradually adjust the mirror segments until the 18 images become a single star.
NASA had earlier cautioned that the images would not resemble the stunning photos of the cosmos taken by similar space telescopes. Instead, the space agency said the images would be blurry and repetitive because they have been taken as part of the telescope's fine-tuning process.
Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-10502085/NASA-unveil-images-James-Webb-Space-Telescope-today.html
More photos https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/
Polybius
(15,540 posts)Much earlier than expected, I heard that they would come around June.
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)These images are not useable scientifically; they are engineering images for aligning the optics.
They do seem to be ahead of schedule by a bit though! Better-than-expected initial alignment.
Uncle Joe
(58,584 posts)Thanks for the thread Mr. Sparkle
lagomorph777
(30,613 posts)Thanks for sharing!
NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)... and all the marvelous things we're about to discover and learn about our universe.
Baked Potato
(7,733 posts)llashram
(6,265 posts)here I come
Layzeebeaver
(1,647 posts)WEBB TELESCOPE BROKEN! CANT BE IMMEDIATELY FIXED! BIDENS FAULT!
In 3, 2, 1
Volaris
(10,281 posts)Everyone knows those images are fake because everyone knows orbits cant be a thing since we all know the earth is flat.
In our next segment, incels would be getting laid all the time if it were not for democrats that wont fuck them.
ffr
(22,682 posts)We seek 'a posteriori' theoretical knowledge to understand what we would otherwise have to hypothesis about.
Volaris
(10,281 posts)Imagine if Bezos or Musk had fronted the cash for this thing. Every image would have a copyright claim attached to it..scientists would have to highest bid for time, and we would never see a single pixel.
The fact that this thing was designed to park ITSELF in a stable lagrange orbit a million miles from here, blows my fucking mind.
calimary
(81,611 posts)Calista241
(5,586 posts)SouthBayDem
(32,083 posts)Might as well have linked Fox News or Breitbart.
electric_blue68
(15,034 posts)Omaha Steve
(99,893 posts)Daily Mail is a very unreliable right wing tabloid.
Statement of Purpose
Post the latest news from reputable mainstream news websites and blogs. Important news of national interest only. No analysis or opinion pieces. No duplicates. News stories must have been published within the last 12 hours. Use the published title of the story as the title of the discussion thread.