The Webb Telescope’s Distant Revelations, and Earth’s Present Challenges
Below is an excerpt from Sustain What’s blog post. View full post.
A star-forming region of the Carina Nebula as seen by the James Webb Telescope.Photo: NASA
You may have seen some stunning images released yesterday by NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute.You can download and browse five images and lots of related content at webtelescope.org.
I run a pop-up Sustain What webcast of the live event, if you missed it, you can watch it here:
The Webb telescope, like Hubble before it, is exciting on several levels, both as a technological achievement and because of the decades-long policy, funding and science required to sustain such an ambitious project The bold nature of the push. read”telescope time machine“That backstory, written by my Bulletin colleague David Kerley, centers on James Webb. Kerley is also Technical aspects of satellite orbits Make this possible.
The first images, as evidenced by yesterday’s NASA event and earlier trailer, are breathtaking in at least three ways: their scientific significance, the sheer aesthetic factor, and the sense of wonder and humility they engender.
During the event, project scientist Klaus Pontoppidan explained how the years-long process sifted the 70 proposed targets into this small group, “which will create the most beautiful images, highlighting the four scientific instruments and highlighting Webb’s Major science themes.” Yes, NASA has sales skills, like every agency.
But it is indeed a far-reaching new frontier mission, transporting humanity back into the distant past in unprecedented detail and data.
It’s clear that the hundreds of scientists contributing to this mission and related research efforts aren’t just for intellectual challenges.
Below is a pair of images that convey what I believe are two complementary components of the space agency’s mission: understanding and protecting Earth’s orbit and advancing fundamental discoveries in the world beyond Earth’s orbit.On the left is an image of pre-war Kyiv Filmed and tweeted in 2017 NASA astronaut Randy Bresnick from the International Space Station.On the right is Webb’s first deep-field image, revealing a galaxy gallery It is about 4.8 billion light-years away from Earth.
Left: Pre-war Kyiv as seen from the International Space Station. Right: The first deep-field image from the James Webb Telescope.Photo: NASA
For decades, my coverage of NASA has focused on instruments and initiatives directed toward the parent star, not upward. In my opinion, both tasks are necessary to build a sustainable future.
Read the rest of the post here.
