James Webb Telescope

[Puppycow]

I'm sure that Dr. Becky and others will have videos out soon.

Launch Pad Astronomy is going to have a live stream of the event:

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNqNkZ7kKfqimqHkgbWMNYA

 

[Mike Helland]

OK, so more galaxies. I want to see earlier galaxies, not just more of them.

All those little dots in the picture are galaxies. The ones with no shape?

Probably hundreds of billions of years old.

 

[arthwollipot]

I'm sure that Dr. Becky and others will have videos out soon.

Dr. Becky, Scott Manley, Everyday Astronaut... all the usual suspects.

 

[Puppycow]

All those little dots in the picture are galaxies. The ones with no shape?

Probably hundreds of billions of years old.

That would be older than current mainstream cosmology puts the age of the universe, which Google tells me is 13.8 billion years old.

 

[Puppycow]

But who knows, maybe this new telescope will overthrow the current mainstream cosmology?

 

[Jack by the hedge]

Look at that lensing!

I wonder how many of those far galaxies we're seeing more than once, in different parts of the image.

 

[Samson]

But who knows, maybe this new telescope will overthrow the current mainstream cosmology?

No it won't and let there be light.
In this thread.

 

[Stellafane]

But who knows, maybe this new telescope will overthrow the current mainstream cosmology?

Yeah, especially if it starts resolving pixels.

 

[sphenisc]

What's "a grain of sand at arm's length on the ground" in steradians?

Thanks

 

[Myriad]

Grain of sand diameter (est.) 0.5 mm
Arm's length (est.*) 560 mm
Subtended angle tan^-1(0.5/560) = 0.051 degrees
Approx. square degrees (small angle) = 0.0026
Conversion to steradians 0.0026 * (pi / 180)^2 ~= 8 * 10^-7
*Sand-grain-holding fingertips to eye distance, with the arm reaching forward.

 

[Skeptical Greg]

OK, so more galaxies. I want to see earlier galaxies, not just more of them.

Not that much earlier in the grand scheme of things.

The earlier you look, the fewer there should be..


Most distant star to date spotted – but how much further back in time could we see?

The improved resolution of the Hubble Space Telescope increased the lookback time to 13.4 billion years, and with the JWST we expect to improve on this possibly to 13.55 billion years for galaxies and stars.

 

[Myriad]

Sanity check on the "grain of sand at arm's length" figure:

0.051 degrees

Call it 3 arc-minutes. The resolution of the JWST is reported as 0.1 arc-seconds. Which corresponds to an 1800x1800 pixel image. The image size of the published picture appears to be 2799x2856. Close enough, allowing for unspecified processing of the raw telescope data.

 

[Puppycow]

Well they did say it's a composite image.

Anyway, here is the NASA feed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmMRMIE3MGw

If you click it now you'll see a trailer with a voice we all recognize.

 

[Mike Helland]

Pretty amazing:

https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages

 

[Warp12]

Well they did say it's a composite image.

Anyway, here is the NASA feed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmMRMIE3MGw

If you click it now you'll see a trailer with a voice we all recognize.

I must have gotten there too late; who's voice?

 

[Warp12]

Pretty amazing:

https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages

I would be interested in how much enhancement occurs with the processing of the raw data. The "stars" have a very JJ Abrams look to them.

 

[Puppycow]

Love the Stephan's Quintet. So may other galaxies in the background. There must be other life in some of them.

 

[Puppycow]

I must have gotten there too late; who's voice?

Carl Sagan.

ETA: This is the trailer

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69uT90tEJdE

 

[Puppycow]

Launch Pad Astronomy live feed starts in a few minutes. Top of the hour.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JNTPNvPJ_L0

 

[Skeptical Greg]

Carl Sagan.

Billions and billions..