The Webb Telescope

Here is the latest update, and a very good article on the Webb:

https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/

@AThousandYoung
And mere technicians like me who worked on several satellites and Apollo back in the day.

@Liljo
Interesting indeed, wonder when all the calibrations are going to be done and get into real science?

@sonhouse
What if Webby spots a point of light in the blue-violet spectrum whose position doesn't change and it's intensity keeps increasing?

Would the scientists be happy, or be proud, or be scared?

@bunnyknight
Well if it turned out to be a thousand light years away I don't think they would worry too much, we would have at least a thousand years to prepare for a visit. Based on radio astronomy however, if there was a civilization 1000 ly away they would not know we were here emitting radio waves since the sphere of our radiation is about 200 light years across, and they would have to be within 100 light years to pick up ANY radio or TV signals since traveling at c our signals would not have enough time to go much more than 100 ly away.
If said object was 8 ly away, that would be a different story, especially if that object was still aimed directly at the solar system after a few years observation.
But it would say one thing, whatever it is, spaceship, probe, colony ship, whatever, it would not be going faster than the speed of light so the same laws would affect them as it does us.

If something popped up inside the solar system and THEN started broadcasting, THAT would be a much bigger worry, indicating technology we can only dream about now.

@bunnyknight said
@sonhouse
What if Webby spots a point of light in the blue-violet spectrum

It won't - all its instruments are in the infra-red.

@Shallow-Blue
Picky picky🙂

@shallow-blue said
It won't - all its instruments are in the infra-red.

Then they didn't prepare for the unexpected.

@bunnyknight
Come on, they only had ten billion to work with🙂

@bunnyknight said
Then they didn't prepare for the unexpected.

It has a specific mission. It isn't a grab-bag of every Swiss Army detectors they had lying on the shelf, and that's intentional.

@Shallow-Blue
Besides, most of the technology for Webb had to be invented on the spot because such things didn't exist before Webb.
Just the engineering opened up new avenues of research besides whatever is revealed by Webb in the coming months and years.
Hubble is now 30 years old and still doing great science and the two of them will work together, Webb on IR and Hubble on visible and UV.

@shallow-blue said
It has a specific mission. It isn't a grab-bag of every Swiss Army detectors they had lying on the shelf, and that's intentional.

I would have also added a coffee and pastry dispenser to Webby as a friendly gesture to any visiting aliens -- just in case.

It could mean the difference between Earth prospering, and its total annihilation.

@bunnyknight
Or the blighters accidentally run into it with their saucer and blow it and the saucer to bits and THAT is why they get ticked and destroy humanity🙂

So they announced (https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/) that routine operation will start July 12th.

@Ponderable
Just a few weeks now. I think the first targets are some asteroids in our solar system.