# James Webb Space Telescope general discussion thread **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Tags:** science-math\ **Created:** [December 25, 2021, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624 "2021-12-25T13:18:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 34
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/661 "2022-07-11T22:26:54Z")
Wait – That’s IT? Just a few speeches? I thought we was gonna see some PICTURES!! ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/662 "2022-07-11T22:28:46Z")
[https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages](https://www.nasa.gov/webbfirstimages) ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/663 "2022-07-11T22:31:53Z")
Oooo! But … what’s that thing that looks like a part of a metallic sphere at the end of that big rayed stars 2nd ray? I have to be pattern finding, but darned if I can think of what it might be. ETA: Ah! I think it’s a galaxy and a large cluster overlapping each other. That makes MUCH more sense. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/664 "2022-07-11T22:32:59Z")
Lensing ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/665 "2022-07-11T22:36:20Z")
That’s what they want you to think. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/666 "2022-07-11T22:44:20Z")
I wanna see the look on Dr. Becky’s face ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/667 "2022-07-11T22:45:08Z")
What’s amazing is when they said this represents a part of the sky as small as if you were to hold a grain of sand at arm’s length, then this is how many galaxies are seen in that small speck of the sky. ETA - that’s what is written with the image. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/668 "2022-07-11T22:52:09Z")
Yes. For context, from what I’ve picked up on reddit, the hubble deep field (one of the most famous images of all time) views an area of space that’s like holding out a nickel at arm’s length. So this is a much smaller portion of sky than the hubble deep field shown in more high detail (and presumably with much less exposure time since the telescope hasn’t been comissioned for as long as the hubble deep field images took to expose) It’s really hard to understand the significance without context and that press conference was pretty bad and gave no context at all, so most of the public’s reaction is probably just going to be “that’s it? looks like one of the pretty hubble pictures” ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/669 "2022-07-11T22:58:48Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > Lensing Looks like lots of lensing in that picture. All the streaks that are slightly curved. Obviously there’s a galaxy cluster directly behind the foreground one. Much futher away, of course. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/670 "2022-07-11T22:59:39Z")
[![](https://archive.stsci.edu/missions/hlsp/relics/smacs0723-73/color_images/hlsp_relics_hst_acs-wfc3ir_smacs0723-73_multi_v1_color.png) ](https://archive.stsci.edu/missions/hlsp/relics/smacs0723-73/color_images/hlsp_relics_hst_acs-wfc3ir_smacs0723-73_multi_v1_color.png) This is the hubble image for the same area for comparison using the wide field camera 3 IR sensor installed in 2009. It’s not a 1:1 comparison because that’s closer to raw data, vs data processed for public consumption, but giving some context helps. [![](https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_width/public/thumbnails/image/main_image_deep_field_smacs0723-1280.jpg?itok=6-LM40Qf) ](https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_width/public/thumbnails/image/main_image_deep_field_smacs0723-1280.jpg?itok=6-LM40Qf) Edit: Anther hubble image taken with one of the other instruments, the advanced camera for surveying [![](https://archive.stsci.edu/missions/hlsp/relics/smacs0723-73/color_images/hlsp_relics_hst_acs_smacs0723-73_multi_v1_color.png) ](https://archive.stsci.edu/missions/hlsp/relics/smacs0723-73/color_images/hlsp_relics_hst_acs_smacs0723-73_multi_v1_color.png) ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/671 "2022-07-11T23:19:05Z")
Someone on reddit made a [comparison gif](https://i.redd.it/9uyhwijeo0b91.gif) of the hubble and JWST on the same area. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/672 "2022-07-11T23:50:12Z")
That is remarkable. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/673 "2022-07-11T23:50:51Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Part of the time delay in sharing these images are both in actually processing the images to be good for public consumption, and also thinking about how they’re going to do the outreach to explain to the public what’s so special about them. > [@SenorBeef](#): > > Part of the time delay in sharing these images are both in actually processing the images to be good for public consumption, and also thinking about how they’re going to do the outreach to explain to the public what’s so special about them. I had to work and missed it. What’s the verdict on the context? Did it help with the wow factor? ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [July 11, 2022, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/674 "2022-07-11T23:52:20Z")
In re earlier discussion about whether we could get a deep field early on: " This deep field, taken by Webb’s [Near-Infrared Camera](https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/observatory/instruments/nircam.html) (NIRCam), is a composite made from images at different wavelengths, totaling 12.5 hours – achieving depths at infrared wavelengths beyond the Hubble Space Telescope’s deepest fields, which took weeks." [https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-delivers-deepest-infrared-image-of-universe-yet](https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-delivers-deepest-infrared-image-of-universe-yet) ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2022, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/675 "2022-07-12T00:02:04Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Yes. For context, from what I’ve picked up on reddit, the hubble deep field (one of the most famous images of all time) views an area of space that’s like holding out a nickel at arm’s length. So this is a much smaller portion of sky than the hubble deep field shown in more high detail (and presumably with much less exposure time since the telescope hasn’t been comissioned for as long as the hubble deep field images took to expose) > > It’s really hard to understand the significance without context and that press conference was pretty bad and gave no context at all, so most of the public’s reaction is probably just going to be “that’s it? looks like one of the pretty hubble pictures” The famous Hubble Ultra-Deep Field image covered an area of about 11.5 square arc-minutes. The JWST image, AIUI, covered an area of deep space about an order of magnitude finer than that, peering much farther into the deep past and the earliest universe and with much greater detail. The science is fantastic; the way it was presented was sadly inadequate. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2022, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/676 "2022-07-12T00:20:25Z")
> [@dtilque](#): > > Looks like lots of lensing in that picture. All the streaks that are slightly curved. Obviously there’s a galaxy cluster directly behind the foreground one. Much futher away, of course. **SMACS 0723** was chosen specifically because of the lensing - that way very distant, very ancient objects can be imaged that are otherwise beyond reach. The problem in the past is that these objects would be red-shifted beyond detection. But now we that we have an IR telescope of this capability they can be studied. [From here](https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/07/nasa-names-first-five-targets-for-webb-images/) (also linked above): > [@](#): > > **SMACS 0723:** The wavelengths to which Webb is sensitive were chosen for a very specific reason: By the time the light from the Universe’s first stars finishes traveling most of the way across the Universe, it will have been red-shifted right into the area of the spectrum to which Webb is sensitive. In other words, Webb was made to be sensitive to the light of the first stars. > > While we were waiting for the telescope to be put into orbit, astronomers did a fantastic job of mapping what are called gravitational lenses. These are areas where massive foreground objects distort space in a way that causes it to act like a lens, greatly amplifying the light from distant areas behind it. SMACS 0723 is an area where massive galaxy clusters act in concert to create a strong lens, giving us the chance to see objects from the early Universe. How early, and how small an object will we see? We’ll find out on Tuesday. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2022, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/677 "2022-07-12T01:23:50Z")
> [@SenorBeef](#): > > Someone on reddit made a [comparison gif](https://i.redd.it/9uyhwijeo0b91.gif) of the hubble and JWST on the same area. You just saved me a whole bunch of work, as I had just started making the same thing. Now I don’t have to. What would make the comparison even more useful would be to know the total integration time of each image. The Hubble one is much noisier, so they may have had to use extremely long exposures to capture the light they did. If Webb can produce a better image much faster, that’s even more awesome. ---
**Author:** ![Gorsnak](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gorsnak/32/7587_2.png) [@Gorsnak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gorsnak)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2022, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/678 "2022-07-12T01:34:28Z")
> [@squeegee](#): > > But now we that we have an IR telescope of this capability they can be studied. And this is just NIRCam. MIRI can see a lot further yet into the infrared. ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2022, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/679 "2022-07-12T01:56:31Z")
People on reddit have said the hubble exposure is 11 days, and the JWST exposure is 12 hours, but I haven’t confirmed those numbers. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2022, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/680 "2022-07-12T02:01:50Z")
The JWST shot released today was 12.5 hours exposure according to the [press release](https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/goddard/2022/nasa-s-webb-delivers-deepest-infrared-image-of-universe-yet) that described the image. Which is almost a joke when it comes to deep field exposures, which can run hundreds of exposures over months of time. I can’t wait until Webb really stretches its legs. (I can’t seem to google up any info about the Hubble version of the image, drat) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624.md?page=33) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624.md?page=35)