LAUNCH OF THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE.

Today, on Christmas Day 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope, purported to be a hundred times more powerful than the Hubble Telescope, was launched atop an Ariane 5 rocket from ESA's base in Kourou, French Guyana, towards its destination, the Lagrangepoint L2. To view the graphics unimpeded by all my stuff and links to the right, simply click on each pic:








It will now have its designers, its financiers and every space enthousiast sitting on edge as it travels towards L2...a 29-day journey during which much can go wrong!





Once there it is time for commissioning the JWST:





More info here.


Nite!



MFBB.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2021!!!

To all my readers of good will, a heartfelt Merry Christmas!


Adorazioni dei pastori (1485), in the Cappella Sassetti in Florence's Basilici di Santa Trinita



MFBB.

RECOMMENDED VIDEO: HOW DOES THE PARKER SOLAR PROBE SURVIVE THE SUN'S INTENSE HEAT AND RADIATION?

Last week the Parker Solar Probe was hurtling though the Sun's corona at speeds sometimes approaching 100 miles per second:

NASA's Parker Solar Probe plunged deep into the Sun's corona & passed directly through streamers of solar plasma. The view out the window was...staggering. https://t.co/LLy8fB2dmZ pic.twitter.com/4fWkHIgmlA

— Corey S. Powell (@coreyspowell) December 15, 2021

Taking into account how solar radiation can potentially wreak havoc to the ISS's electronics when it is, after all, 150 million kilometers distant, how can the Parker Solar Probe even be functioning, let alone relay back these fascinating images, when it has now come as close as 8 million kilometers? Here are some answers:






MFBB.