Countdown to rewriting the textbooks again - JWST launch imminent

Afternoon PSA space cadets!

Like your rocket boosters big and kickass?

(444) Live! SLS Rocket Booster full-scale static test | FSB-2 - YouTube

Go to the 1:28 mark for the final countdown of the FSB-2 test. Turn the volume up. FSB-2 is an upgraded version of FSB-1, which in turn is an upgraded version of the original STS solid rocket booster. FSB-1 and -2 are designed to be strap-ons for Artemis with -2 targeted for later missions. Have a blast watching the video … literally.

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I just watched the test. What an awesome piece of technology. Holy crapoly.

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I’m hoping the Webb can help simplify this Venn Diagram from Hell😝


Reflective of how utterly at sea we are with respect to the topic.

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What “science” actually looks like when not tethered to a political narrative. :grin:

Watched a nice documentary on Nova last night on the entire Webb telescope project. About an hour and worthwhile:

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No one has a clue about dark matter yet. Have we no clue what the universe really is besides stars and clouds? Is it hiding outside of this universe? :thinking:

Looks like one of my Spirograph masterpieces.

That was a great film👍🏼

Incredible

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The stamp looks nice! I am still running my three-year-old stamps at an extremely slow rate. But I may get this one anyway.

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That is one of the coolest stamps the USPS has commissioned in years. I rarely use snail-mail any more, but am going to buy a sheet as a keepsake.

I wonder if there will be a first day of issue type service?

I couldn’t remember how many commas are in the mileage conversion to light years, so Google. The more we learn about what this telescope can show us, the more impossible to form some perspective–at least for me. I just can’t get enough of this.

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Some of the most beautiful CGI I’ve seen.

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That single machine is going to (or should) change how humanity views itself. Maybe some of the trite bickering and political genocide will stop. Maybe.
I am glad all of this space exploration happened in my lifetime.
I did not realize how big or how heavy this telescope actually is. What an achievement.

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Good morning PSA Space Cadets. The newest blockbuster image from JWST:

Webb Captures Stellar Gymnastics in The Cartwheel Galaxy | NASA

See the MIRI image at the lower right of the webpage for a fantastic contrast between what NIRCam sees and what MIRI sees in the mid-IR. I love the Cartwheel because of the unusual ring of intense new star formation at the end of the spiral arms. There is clearly fresh interstellar material surrounding the Cartwheel that is being compressed into initiating star formation.

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Wow!

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I had to snicker a bit at the use of the word “fresh” given the distance to this image that occurred ~500 million years ago.

“The Cartwheel Galaxy, located about 500 million light-years away”

Call me crazy but much of what JWST observes may not exist or is certainly modified in some way over such a long time period.

A great image nonetheless.

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