Questions tagged [james-webb-space-telescope]
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is an infrared space observatory that launched on Dec 25, 2021. It is the largest and most powerful space telescope to date.
95
questions
1
vote
0
answers
40
views
Angular extent of this composite Chandra / JWST image of the Tarantula Nebula?
I thought I’d ask this question here, as I couldn’t readily find the answer looking through online resources.
What is the angular extent of the composite Chandra / JWST image of the Tarantula Nebula ...
- 323
3
votes
2
answers
138
views
Is the James Webb Space Telescope ever going to run out of thruster power to point it to the right direction?
As far as I know the only mechanism that our spacecrafts have to maneuver in space is gas thrusters.
Obviously pressurized gas is in a limited quantity on the JWST. What are the plans for when the ...
- 621
4
votes
0
answers
74
views
Why is the latest Webb discovery of early-age universe considered so important?
The past week, news were flooding of an unexpected discovery of James Webb Space Telescope. In many articles it is mentioned that cosmologists cannot explain the formation of galaxies of this ...
- 621
4
votes
1
answer
83
views
Why does one object (star?) in this JWST image have two sets of six+plus+two diffraction spikes but another, similar object nearby have only one?
CNN's February 24, 2023 Astrophysicist says 'there is nothing wrong with not knowing' is basically an opportunity for Neil deGrasse Tyson to give us a pep talk and reminder about the exciting process ...
- 31k
1
vote
0
answers
79
views
Can JWST see Proxima C?
I know that Proxima B is too close for Webb. But Proxima C is >1'' away from Proxima. So Webb could see it. There have been some unconfirmed images from earth. Besides there seem to be dust bands ...
- 19
1
vote
0
answers
77
views
Can we use plain mirror as a secondary mirror in cassegrain telescope?
I was planning of making a telescope like JWST, just with plain mirrors, as bigger concave or convex are much expensive. The primary mirror would be totally made of plain mirrors configured like JWST. ...
- 139
11
votes
3
answers
2k
views
What is the most common activity of astronomers in the JWST? [closed]
I am no astronomer. I am a computer scientist.
I recently read this article: JWST has changed the speed of discovery, for better or for worse - Astronomers are working at a furious pace to analyze and ...
- 621
4
votes
1
answer
72
views
What accounts for a Lyman-break for all wavelengths shorter than 91.2nm if the Lyman limit is the highest energy photon that neutral hydrogen absorbs?
From this description of Lyman-break galaxies, I don't understand how:
...radiation at higher energies than the Lyman limit at 912 Å is almost completely absorbed by neutral gas around star-forming ...
1
vote
1
answer
132
views
What data has JWST obtained of the Trappist-1 exoplanets and where is it? [duplicate]
I have been long waiting spectral data regarding the exoplanets around Trappist-1 and their atmospheres, and I was also long awaiting JWST's launch to get to know more about the system. However, now ...
- 29
6
votes
1
answer
924
views
How does the James Webb Space Telescope achieve a focal length of 131.4m?
How does the James Webb Space Telescope achieve a focal length of 131.4m ?
4
votes
1
answer
265
views
Is pointing a telescope at a random place a viable astronomical strategy?
Recently I happened to be on the MAST portal, looking at jwst data. I happened to come across 2 interesting targets, “random place” and “another random place”
This got me thinking. It’s almost ...
- 143
2
votes
0
answers
112
views
How tall are the pillars of creation? (angular and physical) How bright are they? [duplicate]
NASA's October 19, 2022 NASA’s Webb Takes Star-Filled Portrait of Pillars of Creation shows a sparkly and beautiful infrared image of the Astronomical elephant trunks known as the Pillars of Creation.
...
- 31k
8
votes
1
answer
1k
views
What is this bright blue object taken by the Webb telescope?
From NASA - New Webb Image captures clearest view of Neptune's rings in decades:
Does anyone know what the bright blue on the left top corner of the picture is? It is a reflection of sorts or is it a ...
- 2,080
3
votes
1
answer
201
views
Redshift distance proportionality at high Z and need for "mighty mouse" galaxies?
Allegedly supported by some evidence from the new James Webb space telescope physicist Eric Lerner has written an article that have garnered some attention. He writes that:
"Put another way, the ...
- 467
12
votes
3
answers
8k
views
Has NASA released any JWST images of Trappist-1? If not, why?
According to JWST weekly schedules (found here), the Trappist-1 system was among the telescope's targets during early July.
The only JWST image of an exoplanet in the Trappist-1 system that I've ...
- 627
2
votes
0
answers
28
views
How much does foreground clumping affect the estimated sizes of high-redshift objects?
I've always converted angular to linear size by using the angular-diameter distance without really thinking about it. But in light of recent stories about high-$z$ galaxies observed by JWST being ...
- 2,892
6
votes
1
answer
382
views
What parameters of the Big Bang model will have to be adjusted to account for JWST's observations of highly redshifted galaxies?
There are a lot of claims, on YouTube at least, that the James Webb space telescope have found too many to old/highly redshifted normal looking galaxies to fit easily into the Big Bang model.
One such ...
- 467
1
vote
0
answers
37
views
Can I use ENVI Classic to process JWST tiff image?
I am interested to process JWST or any other astronomical images. Can I use ENVI Classic to process it? I have some JWST tiff images and I would like to know about the gasses, compounds, the ...
- 11
2
votes
1
answer
116
views
How close to itself can the JWST see? Inside our own system, or must it look beyond like it is far sighted? Essentially, can JWST see Mars or others?
How close to us can we see with JWST, would we be able to look at our neighbor planets and/or their moons (when in the right place logically) or would things that close be out of focus?
I tried ...
- 21
10
votes
1
answer
186
views
What causes the halo in JWST's new image of Jupiter?
Then new JWST image of Jupiter shows a small halo on the right side of the planet. What's causing this feature? I figure it could be that the planet is simply overexposed (or moving slightly during ...
- 283
2
votes
1
answer
103
views
Can the JWST track element abundances throughout time? Would this be of any interest at all?
Now that the JWST is peering further and further back into the cosmos, I came to a few questions that I would love to see answered. We know that models of the big bang nucleosynthesis result in ...
- 265
4
votes
1
answer
82
views
Why is infrared the ideal band to detect the earliest and most-redshifted galaxies? [duplicate]
Was infrared chosen for the James Webb Space Telescope's mission to detect the most-redshifted galaxies and stars in the universe because most detectable galactic radiation emits most strongly in the ...
4
votes
1
answer
262
views
What is the story behind this supposedly incredibly detailed image of the disk of Proxima Centauri attributed to the JWST?
Etienne Klein (@EtienneKlein)'s twitter account labels them as:
Directeur de recherche @CEA_Officiel, producteur de « Science en questions » sur @franceculture, publie « L’esprit du corps »
and ...
- 31k
10
votes
1
answer
724
views
What is this object visible in the Chandra image of the Cartwheel galaxy that isn't visible in JWST image?
In the below images I aligned an image from Chandra of the Cartwheel galaxy over the image from JWST. The first is the Chandra image pasted on top, fully opaque. The second is just the JWST image, and ...
- 193
21
votes
1
answer
3k
views
How does JWST position itself to see and resolve an exact target?
Let's say the James Webb Space Telescope wants to move from observing the Andromeda galaxy millions of light years away to looking at the Trappist-1e planet some dozens of light years away, what ...
- 395
1
vote
1
answer
145
views
Could the James Webb Space Telescope be protected from meteorites?
Unfortunately a meteorite has already hit the telescope and caused irreversible damage to it. I was wondering if they could have provided a cover or shield, to protect it when it is not observing. Or ...
- 1,601
11
votes
1
answer
481
views
If I can't unscramble an egg, how do Astronomers unscramble views gravitationally lensed by complex mass distributions?
Quanta Magazine's Two Weeks In, the Webb Space Telescope Is Reshaping Astronomy highlights two submissions to arXiv soon after the first images were released: "Three days later, just minutes ...
- 31k
3
votes
0
answers
60
views
How to obtain exoplanets transmission spectra from JWST's NIRISS data of WASP96?
I was having a look at JWST's NIRISS data of WASP96 (specifically at the x1dints fits file which should be already calibrated). From this, I would like to obtain a result in a fashion similar to the ...
- 31
5
votes
1
answer
101
views
Webb data pipeline explanations e.g. using the first five images?
The first 5 stunning results from the Webb Space Telescope are now available!
And the raw data is available for them, e.g. via bulk download scripts or via the Mikulski Archive for Space Telescopes (...
- 402
3
votes
1
answer
169
views
How much does the communications frequency of JWST vary?
This question (How many light seconds away is the JWST?), or rather one of its answers, got me thinking.
Since the communications time is about 5±0.75 seconds, it varies by about 1.5 seconds per 3 ...
- 412
0
votes
2
answers
205
views
What percentage of visible stars will JWST be able to survey over the next 10 years?
The James Webb telescope is projected to stay operational over the next 10 years. During this time, what percentage of the visible universe/stars will it be able to survey? Of course, technically the ...
- 559
1
vote
0
answers
120
views
Why not launch a few more copies of JWST?
The James Webb Satellite seems to be a highly successful project and it looks like humanity will get useful observations from it for many decades to come. But the question is... why not make 3 more ...
- 559
1
vote
1
answer
159
views
Will the James Webb Space Telescope be able to detect/resolve Russell's teapot?
Was wondering if JWST has the capability to detect and image Russell's teapot. It seems to me that may retain enough IR energy. ;-)
- 605
4
votes
0
answers
194
views
What is the large dim feature near the center of the first James Webb image (of SMACS 0723)?
I was intrigued by the large dim feature (highlighted below) in the center of the first James Webb image of SMACS 0723. Is anything known about it?
- 193
22
votes
2
answers
7k
views
How many light seconds away is the JWST?
The processing for JWST's alignment is done on Earth. How long does it take for a signal from Earth to reach the JWST?
- 995
10
votes
3
answers
3k
views
What are the black spots/blobs in JWST Jupiter's images?
Consider these two recent JWST images of Jupiter:
Europa is shown as the black circle. In the second image, Europa's shadow can be seen near Jupiter's big red spot (white in the image, since it is in ...
3
votes
2
answers
556
views
What would James Webb Space Telescope be able to see if pointed at Earth?
I have seen comparisons of the picture quality between Hubble and Webb, and I have read that the size of the pictures Webb is taking is akin to holding a grain of sand at arms length against the sky.
...
- 133
1
vote
3
answers
144
views
What does it mean to be looking at something that is 13.5 billion years old? [duplicate]
Reading up on the James Webb telescope and how the images from it show us the universe as it was 13.5 billion years ago has made me wonder what does this mean?
Are we in essence viewing the past? And ...
- 13
6
votes
1
answer
888
views
What is the numerical aperture of the James Webb Telescope?
I was wondering what the NA of the James Webb telescope is:
Based on this eq:
R = λ / 2NA >> NA = λ / 2R
Key Facts - James Webb Space Telescope - NASA
λ = 0.6 - 28.5 microns = 0.6 - 28.5 x 10-6 ...
- 163
7
votes
1
answer
288
views
Gravitational mirroring: Can we theoretically see the Milky Way using a telescope?
As I am watching the beautiful deep field picture of the James Webb Space Telescope. I noticed the gravitational lensing. So I asked myself whether it is possible somehow a successive cluster of ...
- 233
3
votes
1
answer
168
views
How did NASA choose "James Webb" as the name of the telescope?
How did NASA decide to name the telescope "James Webb" and not some other name like Copernicus or Ptolemy? The wiki page mentions controversy over the name in the past couple of years but ...
- 559
1
vote
2
answers
63
views
List of stars and galaxies in astronomy images
I am aware of popular initiatives such as the Wikipedia articles listing astronomical objects on the basis of some criteria but... do some kind of systematic indexing, or catalogue, of objects found, ...
- 111
2
votes
1
answer
170
views
How to explain this galaxy warping in Webb's newest photo?
I find this warping very interesting (it's Webb's), how is it possible? Is warped spiral galaxy behind or in front of spherical one? Have we any data on their distances? Can we obtain or compute their ...
- 121
1
vote
1
answer
487
views
Why are diffraction spikes left in JWST public images?
First released JWST images are amazing. However, given the amount of image processing, false colours, cleanup etc. that must have gone into these images, why not also remove or reduce the diffraction ...
- 647
1
vote
2
answers
757
views
If Looking Into Space is Like Looking Back in Time, Why is it the Same in Every Direction?
After seeing the James Webb space picture, in which a tiny sliver of the sky the size of a piece of rice from our perspective here on Earth was examined and revealed contain, as expected, an abundance ...
- 19
21
votes
1
answer
3k
views
What is the probability of a photon from one of these galaxies hitting the James Webb detector?
In the image of the SMACS 0723 galaxy from the James Webb space telescope can be seen distorted galaxies whose light has taken about 13 billion years to reach the telescope.
On the face of it, the ...
- 313
5
votes
1
answer
217
views
What is this curve, captured both in the Webb and Hubble images?
Any guesses what this might be?
Source: tweet
- 153
31
votes
2
answers
5k
views
Why is one picture of this star blue with red, and the other red with blue?
Someone just retweeted a NASA tweet onto my timeline, and it includes two images, allegedly from the same star that was in the process of dying, taken by the new space telescope, side by side:
I don'...
- 419
8
votes
1
answer
280
views
What are the bright dots in some galaxies in the first JWST image?
In the first image released by the James Webb Space Telescope, some galaxies seem to have many bright dots - what are these? Young, huge stars? Supernovae? Just hot things behind the galaxy?
(30 MB ...
- 1,542
5
votes
0
answers
63
views
"Quarter root of intensity" in coronographic plots
In excitement regarding the JWST release, I came across Krist et al, The JWST/NIRCam coronagraph: mask design and fabrication, within which there is the following plot:
Fig. 9. Focal plane images ...
- 151