Last night, observed Sirius, 8.6 light-years distant(51 million million miles), 5th nearest star, shining hotter & 23 times brighter than our sun, Sol. It is 1.8 times the diameter & 2.3 times the mass of Sol. It’s “radial motion” is towards us at 4.5 miles per second. But, it won’t hit us, because it has “proper motion” that has moved Sirius “to the side” at 1.5 times the angular width of our Moon in the last 2000 years. Tho “near” us, Sirius is still 550,000 times further from us than Sol is from us(~93 million miles). This brightest star in the sky (besides our star, Sol) appeared sweet in the Pentax lens. Yes, I love the rendition of brightest stars that the Pentax gives. The Pentax gives them a creamy smooth appearance, despite the gittery, multi-faceted look that Earth’s turbulent atmosphere adds. Also, love to stop the lens down, to see how stars look, as they would appear in smaller telescopes. Tried to see Sirius B, the dim orbiting white dwarf star, but couldn’t see it. Should be able to see it in the Pentax, but the glare from Sirius A is disastrous. Will keep trying. Went to Epsilon Orionis, 2000 light years distant, & equal to 40times the diameter & 300-800,000 times the brightness of Sol. It is the middle star in the “Belt stars” of Orion, the Hunter, & I went hunting for double stars nearby. SW of Epsilon I saw an excellent trio(quadruple?) of stars, but do not know if they are officially listed as a triple star. But, SW(?) of the “triple”, I saw a cute, but dim set of 2 fairly matched bluish(?) stars. I think it was Struve 731, about 5arcseconds apart. Yeah, with all the bright stars around, I did dote on these dim 8.5 & 9 Magnitude stars. I’ll try to figure its Position Angle & see if that agrees with the listing for Struve 731. Anyhow, as normal here in Washington state, the clouds rolled in & my time among the stars ended.
Saw the companion star to Sirius A (brightest star in Earth’s sky) tonight, Sirius B, with the Pentax telephoto camera lens with its only 60power available eyepiece. At the camera lens’s widest aperture(5 inches), the spikey glare of Sirius A (9000 times brighter than Sirius B) blotted out Sirius B. However, stopping the Pentax lens down(like most camera lenses) gets rid of a lot of the spikiness of Sirius A. I could barely see Sirius B when I stopped the lens down to f/10 & only intermittently because of the Earth’s atmospheric turbulence. With some guessing, I’d say, the best seeing of Sirius B, was from f/11 to f/14. Even at f/16 I did see Sirius B, once. Stopping down further, I never saw evidence of Sirius B. At its best, I saw Sirius B as blue. 3-13-2021, 4:40 AM PT: PS....Real proof that I saw Sirius B was, I’d consulted an old star chart in which I THOUGHT I might see Sirius B, about NORTHEAST of Sirius A. When viewing last night, I was a little concerned because I kept seeing Sirius B, not NORTHEAST, BUT EAST-NORTHEAST of Sirius A. Just now, I more closely re-checked the old star chart AND a new star chart....& they both indicated that Sirius B was EAST-NORTHEAST of Sirius A. Sirius B WILL BE NORTHEAST of Sirius A, but not till about 2026-2027 or so.
Went out last night to observe Sirius B, four hundred times DIMMER than our sun, Sol again. But, I never saw Sirius B through the turbulent air causing Sirius A to froth, at all the wider apertures of the Pentax lens. Went to the constellation Leo, to see the excellent double star, Gamma Leonis, comprising the shoulder of the Lion. Despite the turbulence, both these bright yellow-orange stars(some people see various tints of white, green, & red, also) give a bright light show, despite a distance of 130 light-years. The 2 stars are 275 & 72 times as bright as Sol, which explains their show-business attitude. Presently, both stars are near their widest separation(about 180 times the distance between the Earth & Sol), & is the reason I see them both with only the 60power Pentax lens. Decades earlier, it would have been hard or impossible to see them separately with the low-power lens. So sweetly done! I tried to see another dimmer double star, somewhere Southeast of Gamma Leonis, but I failed. In the area I was searching tho, I did see an even fainter double star, maybe 7 arcsecs apart. It was so faint, I thought I first saw a tiny nebulosity. But centering the star & touching up the focus resolved the dim double star. Then, I went to the Pleiades to look for double stars, which I had failed to split previously. First up, was Struve 435, North-Northwest of the center of Pleiades, about 1.5arcdegrees. Not sure if I even saw Struve 435 the first time, but this time I found it quickly. The brighter star was blue, with the seemingly very dim star, darker blue(?). I thought it had a Position Angle of 20degrees, but it was listed as 2degrees in old data. Then, I went to Struve 450, on the edge of the bright stars comprising the “ square bowl” of the Pleiades. Struve 450 I remember, because I didn’t see it as a double star previously! But with very gentle fingers on the focuser, I finally saw the dual nature of the double star. Yes, that second star was really dim under light-polluted skies, & explains why I didn’t see both stars the first time. I thought I saw a Position Angle of 290(?) degrees, but an old listing said it was 265degrees. I could have stayed up, but the rough skies were tough & I went home.
What one night will do! Went out to observe, starting with the crescent Moon. The Moon was contrasty which was very nice. But, the air was very steady. Went immediately to Sirius to see Sirius B....& did I! Even at its widest aperture(f/8, not the best Pentax camera aperture), I saw B. Not easily due to the spikiness of Sirius A, but I saw it once or twice among the spikes. Only stopping the Pentax down to f/9 or f/10 improved the view of Sirius B. But, the best views were at a lot of different apertures, from f/11 all the way to f/32. F/32 is the equivalent of a small 31mm telescope using a 60power eyepiece! & I saw Sirius B well! Stopping the lens down to f/40(equivalent of a 25mm scope at 60power), I only saw Sirius B twice, very briefly. Never saw Sirius B at f/45(equivalent of 22mm telescope). Probably should have seen, which aperture stop gave the longest lasting & clear view of Sirius B, but I was interested in all the apertures. Went to Mizar in the Big Dipper next. The 14arcsecond double star was very colorful at wide open aperture. But stopping the Pentax lens down to f/16 & f/22 gave the two stars a wide gap, despite the view of Mizar at only 60power. With clouds rolling in, I went to Cassiopeia & saw green & red WZ Cassiopeiae. The green & clear red color combination can truly catch you off-guard. Finally, the last stop was Eta Cassiopeiae, equally off-balancing, but the gold & purple stars were too lovely to leave.....till the clouds rolled in. 3-21-2021: PS.....Have to say, that my calculations of theoretical small aperture “telescopes” below the size of 50mm AND their ability to see the dim & small star(sun) Sirius B, has come into strong disbelief from one amateur astronomer, when I posted the above information to an astronomical website.
Fifth repeat of my astronomy story over the last month & a half: Beautiful sunny weather almost all day yesterday. Thot I would observe the stars last night. I delayed going to the park tho, because weather got cloudy even as I set up the scope on previous past nights(thus this being the fifth repeat). Anyhow sure enough, a big cloud set moved in (did I say for the fifth time). So I said to the clouds, “Ha ha, ya won’t fool me this time!” Now comes the kicker. Twenty minutes later, I see that big cloud set moved strongly to the southeast....AND clear skies were all over the rest of the sky. I rapidly loaded the car, went to the park & set up the scope. Observed two stars(which I couldn’t split because the air was turbulent). I said to myself, “I’ll wait, maybe the sky will settle down”. Well, the sky took the hint.......& proceeded to cloud completely up. I said, “I’ll wait the clouds out.” The clouds got thicker. I went home. Yeah, I faked out the clouds the first time. But they still won the day(THE NIGHT).
Went observing tonight....& for the SIXTH time in LESS than 2 months, as soon as I set up, the clouds started moving in. & I’ve had very few attempts at observing for 4+ cloudy months. Anyhow with clouds moving, I quickly saw Sirius A & B in Canis Major, & the companion star to Rigel in Orion. As quickly, I went to Betelgeuse in Orion, but not to see Betelgeuse. South-southwest of Betelgeuse about half a degree is a double star, Struve 817. I quickly saw the double star. With the thin clouds & light pollution, I guessed they were separated by 16arcsecs(really 18,8arcsecs), were dimmer than 8th Magnitude, & could not tell which was brighter. They were Magnitude 8.68 & 8.93. My guess of Position Angle was 60 degrees, but 73 degrees is more accurate. I guessed they were similarly white. But their spectrums are A(white) & F(yellow-orange?). Well, with those wrong guesses, the clouds really started playing with the sky. I had a few glimpses at the clouding Moon(not quite full), called it a cloudy night & went home.
Returned to Struve 817, the double star, last night, due to a question on an astronomy forum: ///////// Out observing last night & returned to Struve 817. Could tell the blue color cast that occurs to Struve 817 while including red Betelgeuse in the view. I think under dark skies, the cones in our eyes responsible for color production get “fatigued”, leaving an excess of blue for other objects in our eyepiece FOV. Being that I use the Pentax camera lens, I stopped the lens down whlle viewing STF 817. I could still see STF817 at f/32(equivalent to a 30mm optic), but could not see it at f/45(equivalent to a 21.3mm optic). //////// Clouds were moving in the western sky, so I moved to Arcturus in the eastern sky. Thirty years ago, I marked a double star(STF1825) near Arcturus, that I could not split the star twice previously with the low 60 power Pentax lens. The same occurred last night under mostly turbulent skies. I saved my star chart space by NOT giving the double star magnitude differences on my charts less than 3 magnitudes, which I had NOT given to STF 1825. So I thought I should have a chance of splitting it, even with 60power. So, I knuckled down & concentrated on accurately focusing. The rack&pinion focuser on the Pentax telephoto lens is rudimentary. Fortunately, the integrated 90degree prism AND eyepiece came with a fine tuning focuser. Delicate turn by delicate turn & with pauses in the turbulent air, I thought I glimpsed the secondary. Again, focusing carefully I got longer glimpses. I guessed the Position Angle at 170degrees, the primary was K & the secondary was cooler still? I’ll have to find out...... PS.......Washington Double Star data shows 4.2arcsec separation, brightness difference between the primary & secondary of 6+ times, & a Position Angle of 154degrees, some data of which may indicate my difficulty in splitting them. The Primary is a possible X-ray source & the secondary may be a spectroscopic double star, according to an old USNO report. Most observations see Struve1825 as hotter than I have indicated.
I’ve been in mountain darkness while using my astronomy telescopes to observe galaxies, nebulae, & stars. While in the dark, I’ve even had a black bear thumping around in the area. Even with good correctable vision, I always wanted the ability to see even more without a telescope. Always envied the nocturnal animals who could see so much more than humans in the dark. If I became blind now, I would truly despise the darkness. But, as an amateur astronomer, we have to have the ability to “turn our Sun, Sol off——go into the night”, so we can see the rest of the Universe.
I never said why this thread ended. Not sure, but I may have mentioned my back & arthritis hindered my ability to mount the Pentax lens on the tripod AND generally, I had to be careful with my hands & back NOT to drop the Pentax. My arthritis really started bothering me again, in March 2021. By April, I no longer trusted by hands to handle the Pentax lens safely, without the increasing possibility of dropping it (which was always a possibility). Long story short, recently I’ve found a medication that controls my arthritis pain, more than any medication I’ve found over the decades. My hands still cannot handle the Pentax lens safely. We’ll see if the new med will allow my hands to handle the Pentax lens safely. Also, I need better equipment to mount the Pentax really securely. I’ve been using the Pentax lens with a tripod I had for general photography, but not meant for the heavy Pentax, AND elevating at astro angles. But, my hands & back can’t handle heavier & more complicated astro gear. Anyhow, whether I can return to astronomy or not, I hope people who followed (& new people discovering) this thread, can feel a bit of the real world awe available to the amateur astronomer.
The launch of the James Webb (super-Hubble) telescope is very close, now moved to Christmas Day, delayed due to high altitude wind turbulence. I figured James Webb fits on this thread as much as anywhere on CleanMPG. The complexity of the JW is beyond my understanding. The minds of beings who can venture to do such exploits is way beyond those people who do NOT have curiosity about the Universe. I believe every step must be completed before the next step proceeds. Other projects have seemingly hit dead ends, but ways have been found to get around problems. It will be fascinating to see if unforeseen problems do occur & if ways around problems can be devised. Once JW is launched & on its way to Lagrange Point 2, it will take months(half a year?) to unfold, construct, cool, collimate & calibrate JW before the first organized observations are made. Such a wild excursion & building project will be 1 million miles(4 times the distance of the Moon) away from the Earth! With the same care as manned missions are handled(more?), the James Webb will glue the knowledge of the Hubble & stunning Earth-based observations to the new knowledge of the James Webb to deepen our contact with the Universe beyond the Earth. Here’s praying for a successful launch & journey to the Lagrange Point,,,,,AND successful constructions! ////// Christmas Morning 2021: PS….I watched the James Webb launch & it was wonderful! Launching to a a high 250(?) mile altitude, the final stage booster accelerated the JW AND even dropped to under 200miles in altitude(sling-shotting). As it continued to accelerate, it began to drive away from the Earth, first to its original 250mile altitude, then to 300, 500, 800 & 1000 miles of altitude. The velocity approached & then passed a circular orbit velocity of 5 miles per second. The velocity continued to build, even to 6Miles per second, as JW neared the 1000mile mark. At that point the booster cut out & separated from JW. Animation ended as a camera on the booster engine, showed the departing JW. The camera even showed the first solar panel deployment on the JW! That’s high hopes for the unfolding constructions of JW, once it reaches Lagrange 2. The spent booster engine began to rotate, such that the camera could no longer show the JW on its way to the Lagrange 2. All in all, it was spectacular viewing! Tho the TV coverage came to an end at the 1000 mile altitude, JW is just beginning its trip to Lagrange 2, almost a thousand times a thousand miles “higher” above the earth (930,000 miles) & that much higher in the Solar-Earth “gravity well”. ////// ~ 9 AM, PST, 12-26-21: PS I……The JW is now 164 times the 1000 mile Earth distance it was yesterday, when it left its booster rocket. Climbing strongly away in the Earth’s “gravity well”, JW has slowed down a lot, to just over 1 Mile per second. Matter of fact, JW has just dropped below 1 Mile per second. Since last night, it has lost 5 Miles per second. But, at this point, Earth’s gravity is about 27,000 times less than when it left its booster. Altho JW hasn’t passed the orbit of the Moon yet, JW will do such, much sooner than the 3 days it took the Apollo 11-17 astronauts to reach the Moon. JW will pass the Moon’s orbit(~ 240,000 miles) on its way another 3 times the Earth-Moon distance to Lagrange 2. ////// Latter 12-26-21: PS II…. JW is 1/5th of a million miles from Earth. Radio signals sent from Earth take 1.075 seconds to reach JW. JW speed is down to 0.876 miles per second. First procedures for the complex sun shield deployment are a day & a half(?) away & will take 4 days. If it is a success, my hopes for full operations will skyrocket! There are still 8 days before the secondary mirror is moved into place. 22.26% of the distance to Lagrange 2 has been completed. The Moon’s orbit is yet to be passed. ////// 12-27-21: Two days, 4 hrs & 12 min. after launch, JW is crossing the Moon’s average distance from Earth(~ 239,000 miles), which took the Apollo astronauts 3 days to reach. However, the JW moves past the Moon’s orbit at 0.77 MIles per second. JW is about 26.6% of the distance to L2. Continually slowing since booster separation, JW will have to rid itself of little moving energy with an orbital injection burn after reaching L2 & to maintain L2 positioning. ///// 12-28-21: JW, 3 days, 4hrs, & 20 min after launch, is 300,000 miles from Earth & beginning deployment of the Sunshield. I can’t hold my breath long enough during this critical phase of operations, as one of the engineers also said. What’s making me scared is that hundreds of connectors must be released before all the unfolding even begins, with hundreds of pullies doing a LOT of pulling & tensioning! This is getting NUTS. UGHHH! It’s been reported that the rocket launch was so accurate, that JW will conserve fuel at Lagrange 2 during its orbital insertion burn. JW’s 10 year mission should be extended! The 2 Pallets have been lowered & locked into position. The seemingly simple procedures had to be accompanied by complexities of varying temperatures, turning the spacecraft to get the right temperatures from the sun on different pieces or using onboard heaters to supply heat where needed, releasing & latching equipment, & related electronics and software. As complex as all that sounds, increasing complexity is scheduled for the days ahead. At least, James Webb is past its launching. Failure during the launch would have meant all the years of James Webb contructions & deployments would still NOT be tested. Any failures now, mean they can analyze & correct procedures for future missions. Ha……the James Webb engineers say the same as I did. The Sunshield deployment is the hardest of problems facing the full operations of the James Webb. Here’s more prayers that NASA & the ESA have worked well to visualize all possible problems & all is smooth sailing & deployments. ///// 12-29-21, 3:24PST: Since launch, about 4.4 days ago, & with coasting speed down to 0.54 MIles per second, the Tower Assembly is lifted to give room for the Sunshield to deploy. Sun side, sector b temperature is 49degF & temperature on the shade side, sector d is down to -244degF. Eventually a temperature difference between sun side & shade side will be about 600degF. JW is about 125,000 miles past Moon’s orbit around the Earth. Percentage of travel to L2 is 40.67% ///// 12-30-21: The Sunshield covers have been released & rolled up. That is great news, because the releases involved way over one hundred items. Now, the masts will be slowly extended with hopes that no sun shields get snagged or mis-aligned! ///// 12-31-21. 3:33PM PST: 449,355 miles from Earth, JW is equi-distant to Lagrange 2 with speed down to 0.4350 Miles per second. JW extended both masts, along with the Sunshield. HAPPY NEW YEAR. With the Sunshield deployed, I am wonderfully happy. ////// 1-3-22: Sunshield tensioning is in progress, The first Sunshield level is complete. Hottest temperature on the sun side of the Sunshield is 136degF. Coldest temperature on the shaded side is -314degF. The Sunshield effect is really doing its duty! Once all the Sunshield layers are tensioned, shade side temperature will continue to reduce. Distance from Earth is 550,000 miles, Distance to L2 is 349,000 Miles. JW is on its way…..even better than the launch! Any problems now, does NOT take away from the wonderful planning, engineering & care that has gone into the JW development to this point. Just wonderful! ///// 1-3-22, late: Well, there were problems…..& they were not being reported! Just read that the solar panels had to be “reset to draw more power”. Something was amiss that they…….had missed. Project Manager Bill Ochs wasn’t giving lots of details. Also, some of the motors were “over-heating” & re-positioning “the Sunshield?” got the motors cooled down. Several things were wrong & no one was talking for a long time. Again, not many details were given. ///// 1-4-22, late: The JW secondary mirror will be moved into place, tomorrow morning at 9:45am ET. Very important, but it should be an easier job than the nerve—wracking Sunshield. ////// 1-5-22: JW secondary mirror is deployed & locked!!! NASA says they have a telescope. I think they mean if other mirror segments don’t move into place, they can still do science, if all the adjustments work. Hottest temperature on the sunside is 128degF & coldest temp on the shade side is -323degF. Distance from Earth is near 598,000 miles & L2 Lagrange is near 301,000 miles ahead. ALRIGHT…..WE HAVE A TELESCOPE!!!!!! ///// 1-6-22—late: Hottest temperature on the sunside is 131degF & coldest temp on the shade side is -325degF. Distance from Earth is 627,790 miles & L2 Lagrange is 270,915 miles ahead. ///// 1-18-22: Hottest temperature on the sunside is 133degF & coldest temp on the shade side is -340degF. Distance from Earth is 838,697 miles & L2 Lagrange is 60,004 miles ahead. Tho 93.3% of the distance is complete, still 6 days are ahead to L2 Lagrange because the JW has slowed to 15% of a mile per second. ////// 1-19-22: Beryllium mirror sets have been fully deployed for the JW telescope. With 94.66% of the journey to L2 Lagrange point orbital insertion complete, 5 days remain before the burn. It will be interesting how much or little energy will be used, since they claimed how accurate the JW telescope positioning has been. Every bit of energy more they save, including after insertion, will be how much longer the JW telescope will be active, beyond its original planned 10 year mission. ////// 1-23-22: Appears one day before orbital insertion around the L2 Lagrange Point, that James Webb telescope will have about 400+MPH extra velocity, relative to Earth. What is the orbital speed around the L2 Lagrange Point, relative to L2? Might James Webb actually have to slow down, speed up or is the James Webb going very near the right velocity for L2 insertion? Every drop of fuel they save, will be extra time JW will function. It appears they are so accurate that JW will now last 20 years, instead of the planned 5 to 10 years, before running out of fuel. It’ll be interesting to see. After so many people thought the worst for JW, JW is looking really really sweet right now! ///// PS…….On a chat room, someone said the change in velocity(delta) to insert around L2 is only 0.7Meters per second or about 1.56Miles Per Hour! Good shootin’, Tex! ////// 2-3-22: With James Webb telescope long in L2 orbit & continuing to cool down, the Near Infra-red Camera is about to turn on. It will be pointed at a dim, but sun-like star, 10+ times dimmer(?) than the eye can detect & about 4arcdeg(?) south of the famous M81-M82 galaxy group in the constellation Ursa Major, which the Big Dipper is a part, to make final careful nano-meter adjustments in the mirror elements for highest resolution capability. I am still stunned by the long delayed, but 100% completely successful mission that depended on thousands of sequential steps needed to perform perfectly…….& each step after each step DID perform perfectly. As spectacular as the science that will unravel the Universe with the JW, is the engineering that brought the JW to its operational fitness 930K miles from Earth! May the JW operate wonderfully for its now determined double operational life-time in L2 orbit.
9-28-20: Why am I quoting my past observation about Zeta Aquarii? For anyone who has followed my observations of the Sky with the Pentax camera lens, you may have mild interest to know that the first science observation by James Webb infra-red telescope, of all the 44,000 square degrees of Sky to see as viewed from near-Earth, will be of a star about 9 arcdegrees or so from Zeta Aquarii. Trappist-1 is the star, in the constellation Aquarius & is about 40 light-years from Earth. Given the distance of 92 light-years to Zeta Aquarii from Earth (beyond Trappist-1), Zeta Aquarii, should be less(?) than 60 light-years from Trappist-1, maybe even 55 light-years(?) from Trappist-1. Another star that I had studied with the Pentax camera lens was 38 Piscium(beyond Trappist-1) in the constellation Pisces, is even closer to Trappist-1, maybe 15-20 light-years. One exciting reason for targeting Trappist-1, is that 7 planets are in orbit around the star. So, with one observation (don’t worry, Trappist-1 will get lots of viewing), 7 planets can be studied!!!!!!! Trappist-1 is a low burning star, that is older than our sun, Sol. So, IF ANY of the planets have atmospheres, they should have many billions of years to development life, IF other proper conditions are present. Trappist-1 has been studied by many cooperating countries’ science studies on numerous continents already. So, inter-connecting national sciences around the World will only get closer with the JW first studies.
Nearly a month later & at L2 Lagrange for a while, the James Webb cold side is down to -381degF & the warm side has dropped only 1degF to 132degF, for a total of 513degF temperature difference between warm & cold. Slowly, all the James Webb main mirrors are being collimated so 1 star will appear as 1 star…..nanometer movement by nanometer movement. PS…..Tho the JW telescope has “seen” its first star, a Canadian Fine Guidance Sensor instrument, FGS, a more accurate guiding instrument has gone into operation. The FGS will have a guiding accuracy of the equivalent of seeing a human eye blick motion at 311 miles distance. At this time, the FGS will take over to more accurately align the 18 mirror segments of the JW. The FGS will allow extreme pointing accuracy for all celestial objects in the course of JW lifetime.
From Feb 17, 2022: PS 1……JW warm side has cooled to 128degF & cold side has cooled to -385degF. However, part of the Fine Steering Mirror (FSM?) is down to -391degF. At this time, all mirror segments are aimed to one point. But, all mirror segments still operate as 18 different telescopes. Ever finer alignment (well below a wavelength of light) will get all mirror segments to act as if they were one large mirror, with the sharpness of one mirror the width of the widest distributed mirror segments. Oh, Boy! This is getting so incredibly……. scientific! ///// 3-10-22: PS 2…JW warm side remains at 128degF but cold side has cooled to -389degF. Part of the Fine Steering Mirror (FSM?) is down to -396degF. Course Phasing continues, as the vertical alignments of all the mirrors are brought into nano-metered accuracy. //// 3-18-22: PS 3…... The warm side raised only 1degF to 129degF but cold side remains at -389degF. Part of the Fine Steering Mirror (FSM?) also remains at -396degF. The sweet engineering performance photograph is discussed in the post below. ////// 3-27-22: PS 4…..The warm side has dropped to 126degF, & cold side drops to -393degF. Part of the Fine Steering Mirror (FSM?) drops to -397degF. ///// 4-1-22: PS 5…..The warm side has dropped to 121degF, & cold side is still -393degF. Part of the Fine Steering Mirror drops to -400degF.
The fine tuning alignments of the mirror segments are complete. An old paper on the James Webb telescope hoped for a resolution of 68milli-arc-seconds in the infra-red, which is 0.068 of 1 arc-second. I think that was a hoped-for resolution, if they couldn’t get better resolution. Today, it has been announced that the James Webb Telescope will resolve down to 17milli-arc-seconds in the infra-red. It appears that James Webb has met ALL expectations…..AND exceeded them. All science packages have to be brought into alignment with the telescope now. But, I’m hoping they can get some images simultaneously, while the extra coordinating is proceeding. Hey, show me A PICTURE. Actually, they did. While centered on the aligning star, background galaxies were visible with spiral structure. So, here we go!!!! ///// 3-17-22: PS…..The exposure was for 35minutes. Not only are James Webb optics of ultimate sharpness, the onboard tracking & guidance equipment is absolutely dazzling. It appears that days long (longer?) exposures will be the orders of the days ahead. Dimmer subjects than anticipated will be seen & be the order of the next 20 years. The Ariane rocket, so accurately placed the JW on its way to L2 Lagrange Point, that fuel was saved to extend the mission for many extra years.
They have been showing details of the short exposure (35 minute) engineering photograph. Its not for science, but I think astronomers are really studying it. Not mentioned, but I think hints of huge amounts of molecular dust are involved in so many galaxies that are showing, which may have very young ages, compared to the spectacular “close” galaxy pictures we are so accustomed to seeing. Not only are the galaxies young, but also the Universe is young! Completely outstanding, looking at so many galaxies that were 13 billion light-years distant….(13 billion years ago AND more distant now) & within(?) a billion years of the beginnings of the Universe. IF they would rotate away from that “BRIGHT STAR” & take long exposure photographs of some of the galaxies, I think it would be wondrous to see more details of those short exposure galaxies. Of course, the James Webb, already has vitally interesting science missions lined up to explore the early & distant Universe. I doubt they will “hang around” the engineering image celestial coordinates much. But, the spectacular M81/M82 galaxy group is only about 5arcdegrees away from their present pointing. The “close by” M81/M82 galaxy group tho, is probably not high on their research agenda. Anyhow, that simple engineering astro-graph must already have astronomers in a dizzy.
Further James Webb science packages have been aligned to the James Webb scope itself: https://blogs.nasa.gov/webb/2022/04/
On just the one engineering test photograph from the James Webb Telescope, science papers are being conducted & published, with extraordinary determinations, already.
James Webb Telescope has passed its last & crucial cooldown, to approach Absolute Zero to less than 2 digit temperatures above. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/tech...after-chilling-out/ar-AAWcjHD?ocid=uxbndlbing Noted is that this final cooling program has gone as well as the whole James Webb program has accomplished. Which means results have been even better than planned. Final alignments can now be made & further images to confirm operational & science procedures are near.
Final(all?) instrument packages have been aligned to the James Webb telescope. As before, engineering images are being taken. One image has been taken of a specific part of the Large Magellanic Cloud(a small galaxy orbiting the Milky Way galaxy). Altho only an engineering image, combined with the other (now aligned) science instrument packages, the James Webb Telescope is showing roaring thousands of extra stars in small bits of images over & above the best images from previous orbiting science telescopes. The vast increases of “new” stars shown, are stars buried in dark molecular clouds. Because the James Webb has been wonderfully cooled to a few degrees above absolute zero, it can see right through DM clouds in the infra-red spectrum. Again, these are just engineering images & much deeper & longer science exposures & explorations will knock our socks off…….if our socks haven’t already been knocked off our feet!!! Quoting 2001 A Space Odyssey: “Its full of stars!” Yes, yes, yes! Much deserved praise is heaped on the excellence of the JW optics & cooling design, reaching its best capabilities. But, these new science packages on the JW are providing heaps more excellence & abilities that are about to dazzle us with new explorations & discoveries. PS….In the category of “too much information”, I don’t have socks on my feet right now…….
