James Webb, World's Largest Space Telescope Ready for Launch in 2018

[xanalog]

Scientists may have detected new signs of extraterrestrial life (April 17, 2025 - 6:27 pm)
...Astronomers using the James Webb Space Telescope say they have detected the “strongest evidence yet” that life exists outside our solar system.
Scientists at the University of Cambridge found signs of the gases dimethyl sulfide (DMS) and/or dimethyl disulfide (DMDS) in the atmosphere of exoplanet K2-18b. On Earth, these gases are only produced by living organisms like phytoplankton, suggesting that K2-18b may also support life.
Located 124 light years away, K2-18b is almost three times the size of Earth and inhabits a region in space where temperatures might allow liquid water. This has long made the exoplanet a top candidate in humanity’s search for alien life.
Armed with the world’s most powerful space telescope, scientists are closer than ever to unearthing the mysteries of this far-off world....
https://thenextweb.com/news/how-james-webb-space-telescope-found-evidence-alien-life

 

[somebodyelse]

https://www.astronomy.com/science/k...-sulfide-in-its-air-but-is-it-a-sign-of-life/
Notably it covers a couple of recent findings pointing to non-biological dimethyl sulfide sources:

A year ago, researchers reported a detection of DMS on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko — hardly a location brimming with life. (The team found the signal in archival data from the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission.) And in September of last year, a team of researchers reported that in lab experiments, they were able to produce DMS by shining UV light on a simulated, hazy exoplanet atmosphere. This suggests that the reactions between a star’s photons and molecules in a planet’s atmosphere could provide a nonbiological way to produce DMS, again challenging the idea that the gas is a clear sign of life.

Another article with more reasons why k2-18b might not have life after all:
https://arstechnica.com/science/202...f-a-possible-biosignature-on-a-distant-world/

So more work to do, but the James Webb is probably still the best tool we have for the job.

 

[xanalog]

I think I may be going OT by posting something that is not related space-based astronomy (i.e. JWST):
This weird one minute yt video detected by the ground-based ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) is ing astronomers!

Meanwhile, still under construction E-ELT (earth-based extra large telescope) will have a 39.3m mirror, six times the diameter and 36 times the area of JWST ($8B for JWST and versus $1.5B for E-ELT).

 

[_thelaughingman]

I think I may be going OT by posting something that is not related space-based astronomy (i.e. JWST):
This weird one minute yt video detected by the ground-based ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) is ing astronomers!

Meanwhile, still under construction E-ELT (earth-based extra large telescope) will have a 39.3m mirror, six times the diameter and 36 times the area of JWST ($8B for JWST and versus $1.5B for E-ELT).

factoring in the LN2 orbit and the complexity required to put up an observatory in orbit inflated the cost compared to earth based telescopes. But as advancement in technology progresses we shall have better views of the universe from earth. Hopefully some day they can reign in all the satellite constellations from blotting out views of the sky.

 

[Dustyc]

Nasa funding is being cut. Hope they don't pull plug on Webb.

 

[Martin]

I think I may be going OT by posting something that is not related space-based astronomy (i.e. JWST):
This weird one minute yt video detected by the ground-based ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) is ing astronomers!

Meanwhile, still under construction E-ELT (earth-based extra large telescope) will have a 39.3m mirror, six times the diameter and 36 times the area of JWST ($8B for JWST and versus $1.5B for E-ELT).

Media is drawing comparisons between 2M1510 and Tatooine: https://www.science.org/content/article/bizarre-tatooine-exoplanet-orbits-two-failed-stars-once

Martin

 

[xanalog]

Media is drawing comparisons between 2M1510 and Tatooine:

This is my comparison:

Do you see it too?

 

[_thelaughingman]

This is my comparison:
View attachment 447328
Do you see it too?

That’s an artist concept of the orbits of the two brown dwarfs which do not correlate to mathematical or observed models. Interesting none the least

 

[amirm]

When Hubble went up, I remember a lot of astronomers saying much cheaper telescopes on earth could do the same job. Since Web has gone up, I have not heard as many complaints about that. Are folks still thinking it is wasteful to do that instead of combining telescopes on earth?

 

[Snoopy]

As long as money is wasted on wars billions like it is nothing, nobody should complain about the cost of the James Webb telescope. :-/

But humans are still dumb animals after all.

 

[xanalog]

As long as money is wasted on wars....

Circa early 1980s, I was douched by a beach-liberal as to why we needed the Space Shuttles and GPS.
At the time, I had taken a job with a defense contractor, designing secure military communications hardware for the tri-services. I originally didn't understand why I was targeted with such a puzzling question... until I realized that it was directed at me due to my employer. We ended up bonding in a very diverse friendship for decades. No need to go there again!
-------------------------
I can imagine in an alternate universe, @amirm' descendants taking on the astrophysics world, as @amirm has taken on the audio world.

I remember a lot of astronomers saying much cheaper telescopes on earth could do the same job.....

Objectivity in measurement techniques - such as Distortion, Noise, Frequency Response - would be his descendants' trade and their instruments would be like the AudioPrecision but for frequencies measured in wavelengths and costs measured in billion$.

From my cursory/limited searches, it appears that there are:
~25 operational earth-based telescopes and ~12 that are de-commissioned.
~18 operational space-based telescopes and ~16 that are not.
Each type, with their own reasons for their existence, and some purposes that we will never have a need-to-know for.
... and, if those descendants of @amirm had a poll in their website [?], my descendants would select the ESA Euclid observatory as the best-of-show.

I've heard a new reference to something called "airglow" and this can be the audio-equivalent of noise/thd for earth-based observatories.
Then, the reference to earth-based 'adaptive optics' made me think of how we correct audio performance deficiencies with EQualization.
Now, there is talk of consolidating the data streams from both earth/space based sensors, and let AI make sense of the mountain of bits.

 

[Speedskater]

I don't know way they didn't make the Webb refuelable. Robots are gaining skills every year.

 

[Taiga]

When Hubble went up, I remember a lot of astronomers saying much cheaper telescopes on earth could do the same job. Since Web has gone up, I have not heard as many complaints about that. Are folks still thinking it is wasteful to do that instead of combining telescopes on earth?

Webb sees into the infrared which is problematic for Earth based scopes. It allows Webb to see “through” the colder dust that can hide activity beyond, such as in star forming nebulae.

However, there is no mistaking that NASA etc. has put a lot of resources into PR (along with some imprecise sensationalism by the media) to gain public support.

 

[xanalog]

I don't know way they didn't make the Webb refuelable. Robots are gaining skills every year.

Could it be that NASA either was forced to become - or needed to adopt - a risk-averse culture, entering the 21st Century?

 

[Cbdb2]

Im no expert but I see advancements coming in DSP from AI for earth based telescopes.

 

[Power Pop 23]

A pretty picture from the Webb Space Telescope:

Thousands of newborn stars dazzle in the latest snapshot by NASA's Webb Space Telescope

Thousands of newborn stars sparkle and dazzle in the latest snapshot by NASA's Webb Space Telescope.

apnews.com

 

[xanalog]

A pretty picture from the Webb Space Telescope:

Thousands of newborn stars dazzle in the latest snapshot by NASA's Webb Space Telescope

Thousands of newborn stars sparkle and dazzle in the latest snapshot by NASA's Webb Space Telescope.

apnews.com

The following quote is puzzling to me:

"...Besides baby stars in a variety of sizes and colors, the photo reveals a dramatic cloud of star-forming dust and gas. ..."

 

[xanalog]

Even Joe Rogan and Kim Kardashian have heard about our third 'interstellar' visitor, that has entered our solar system.
NASA insists that 3I/Atlas is a small ('natural origin') comet, passing thru our neighborhood.

Since its discovery, 3I/Atlas comet has been observed with some real peculiar and unresolved characteristics.
Thus, many speculations and conspiracy theories are flooding the media and podcasts.
JWT is involved!