Not only would that big burn cost a lot of propellant, it would be impossible because it would require Webb to turn 180 degrees in order to thrust toward the Sun, which would have exposed its telescope optics and instruments directly to the Sun, thus overheating their structures and literally melting the glue that holds them together. Then five months of commissioning will include 1) further cooling of the entire observatory, and of the Mid-Infrared Instrument in particular, 2) checking and then aligning the secondary and 18 mirror segments into a single coherent optical system, first with the NIRCam instrument and then with all instruments individually and in parallel, and 3) calibrating of each of the four instruments and their many scientific modes. After two weeks of complex structural deployments, Webb has passed a major milestone and is now fully unfolded in space. L4 and L5 are stable in that each location is like a shallow depression or bowl atop the middle of a long, tall ridge or hill. Now that Webbs primary mirror segments and secondary mirror have been deployed from their launch positions, engineers will begin the sophisticated three-month process of aligning the telescopes optics to nearly nanometer precision. but where exactly is it? This blog will be updated weekly, and sometimes more often. lunar phase. Finally, a couple of highlights at dusk and dawn. Today, at 2 p.m. EST, Webb fired its onboard thrusters for nearly five minutes (297 seconds) to complete the final postlaunch course correction to Webbs trajectory. The Space Coast's next high-profile mission, meanwhile, will be launched by a newcomer: Relativity Space is targeting no earlier than 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 8, for thefirst launch of its Terran rocketfrom Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Launch Complex 16. Deborah Byrd created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. This year the peak coincides with the new moon, making for great viewing conditions, provided the skies are clear. This animation, from Cassini's navigation team, shows the spacecraft's final orbits in 2016 and 2017. 10:42 a.m. The star is a sun-like G star in the Ursa Major constellation, which can be seen by Webb at this time of the year. Classic video explaining the history, debate and continuing discussion of the definition of a planet. center, with the dark expanse of the Coalsack nebula tucked under the Embed this resource by pasting the following code into your website: Managing Editor:
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