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Between meetings today I thought I'd talk about #NASA #JWST and all the exciting #science we can expect from it starting in a few months!
(Yes, I made this travel mug ❤️)
#SciComm #Exoplanets #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Telescope #MastodonNewbie
A quick note: if you ask me what #JWST stands for I'll tell you it's the Just Wonderful Space Telescope
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa-needs-to-rename-the-james-webb-space-telescope/
Fun Fact #1: #JWST is the LARGEST space telescope ever built! It's so big that the mirrors were folded up to fit in the #ESA #Ariane5 #Rocket that launched it last Christmas
(Yes, this diagram of me standing next to the Hubble and JWST mirrors is to scale!)
Because it launched folded up, #JWST spent the first several weeks verrryyy carefully unfolding itself in space as it traveled to its orbit.
The scariest part was the sunshield tensioning! The sunshield is the pink/grey part and is used to keep the mirrors and instruments nice and cold so we can see the very faint heat from the early universe!
Erin M. May, PhD
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