# 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:** 41
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2022, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/801 "2022-07-20T17:10:37Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > An illustration of the damage done. Man, it’s like walking up to your three-month old car and seeing that first ding in the door panel. No, it doesn’t affect the function any but it’s still annoying. > [@k9bfriender](#): > > Not really. It’s really big, certainly many times larger than the observable universe, and probably much larger than that. It _could_ be infinite, or it could be finite and just really big. That’s why “they” use the term observable universe and thanks to the apparent acceleration of the expansion, that actually is getting smaller and smaller. In the inconceivably distant future, long after the Sun is a cold cinder, that observable limit will be the local super group, then our galaxy, then whatever’s left of our solar system. The sad part is that barring FTL (good luck with that) we can never, ever know what’s beyond that observable limit. The cool part is that in a way, the heliocentric people were right: We _are_ at the center of the (observable) universe. The JWST can see – I dunno – 13.5-bly in every direction. If we were to instantaneously transport it 10-bly _that_ way we wouldn’t see an edge 3.5-bly that way and an infinity in the direction back towards home, we’d still be in the enter of a sphere 13.5-bya in radius. It that’s not the center, I don’t know what is. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2022, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/802 "2022-07-20T17:17:20Z")
Why not? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2022, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/803 "2022-07-20T17:29:26Z")
It’s not expanding from somewhere it is to somewhere it’s not. It’s always where it is. It’s just that it’s expanding where it is. Somewhere or another (in the massive piles of “teaching stuff”) I have a couple of transparencies I made to help illustrate this. One of them is a random scattering of dots, represent galaxies (or stars, or any other objects of interest in the Universe). The other one is the same exact image, but blown up 10%. Put one on top of the other, and you can match up any one dot you want, and no matter which one you match up, all of the other dots appear to be moving away from that one point. And now we can imagine that, instead of 8.5" by 11" slides, I had infinite sheets of transparency material. Even though both are infinite, I could still have one that’s an enlargement of the other, and spaces between dots would still be greater, and any point could be lined up as the “center” they’re expanding from. ---
**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 20, 2022, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/804 "2022-07-20T17:40:34Z")
Meantime, a kind person has [created a site](https://www.webbcompare.com/index.html) where you can compare images taken by JWST and Hubble. (No preview possible, daggone it.) ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2022, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/805 "2022-07-20T20:17:52Z")
With the proper JWST filter, your pet cat, dog or even mandrill can have it’s very own galaxy. [![](https://i.ibb.co/dp9WV13/Pet-Galaxy.jpg) ](https://i.ibb.co/dp9WV13/Pet-Galaxy.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2022, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/806 "2022-07-20T21:49:14Z")
> **[James Webb Telescope Breaks Record for Oldest Galaxy Ever Observed](https://petapixel.com/2022/07/20/james-webb-telescope-breaks-record-for-oldest-galaxy-ever-observed/)** > > The galaxy existed just 300 million years after the big bang. The New Scientist has this story but it’s behind a paywall. Not much detail here obviously but one of the researchers is saying that the JWT is finding those old galaxies very easily. ---
**Author:** ![Ponderoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponderoid/32/19221_2.png) [@Ponderoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponderoid)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2022, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/807 "2022-07-20T22:32:28Z")
Dr Becky says not so fast, this is too uncertain at the moment to be sure. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/RJe0s1iDYLc/maxresdefault.jpg "JWST finds most distant galaxy? MAYBE, but not quite… #shorts") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJe0s1iDYLc) ---
**Author:** ![Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fiendish_astronaut/32/3295_2.png) [@Fiendish\_Astronaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fiendish_Astronaut)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2022, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/808 "2022-07-20T22:41:03Z")
Interesting, thanks. ---
**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 21, 2022, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/809 "2022-07-21T01:43:32Z")
I love that song. It’s on the American Pie album and I pretty much like all the songs on that album. ---
**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:** [August 3, 2022, 9:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/810 "2022-08-03T09:57:54Z")
Webb does it again … this is the Cartwheel Galaxy, about 500 million light-years away, the result of a collision between a conventional spiral galaxy and a smaller galaxy. [![](https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_width/public/thumbnails/image/stsci-01g8jzq6gwxhex15pyy60wdrsk.png?itok=1gQYAKHT) ](https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/styles/full_width/public/thumbnails/image/stsci-01g8jzq6gwxhex15pyy60wdrsk.png?itok=1gQYAKHT) [https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/webb-captures-stellar-gymnastics-in-the-cartwheel-galaxy](https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/webb-captures-stellar-gymnastics-in-the-cartwheel-galaxy) ---
**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:** [August 3, 2022, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/811 "2022-08-03T11:40:53Z")
Amazing, isn’t it? It looks like a flower opening its petals. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/812 "2022-08-03T12:03:01Z")
It’s truly stunning, especially when you consider the violent encounter that created it. ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/813 "2022-08-03T16:54:14Z")
Galactastic ! There’s lots of stuff going on in the background which needs further investigation… 10 years is not nearly long enough ! ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/814 "2022-08-03T16:58:31Z")
> [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](#): > > It’s truly stunning, especially when you consider the violent encounter that created it. Well, for certain definitions of “violent”. It’s not like stars are smashing into each other. A collision of galaxies means slow gravity interactions over hundreds of millions of years. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 3, 2022, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/815 "2022-08-03T18:10:38Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > Well, for certain definitions of “violent”. It’s not like stars are smashing into each other. A collision of galaxies means slow gravity interactions over hundreds of millions of years. In fact, although the merger is not going to be finalized for another 5-billion years, the Milky Way’s collision with Andromeda has [already begun](https://earthsky.org/space/earths-night-sky-milky-way-andromeda-merge/)! > The Andromeda galaxy, our Milky Way and other galaxies all sit enshrouded in a large envelope – called a [galactic halo](https://earthsky.org/space/spectacular-halos-around-nearby-galaxies) – which consists of gas, dust and stray stars. The halos of galaxies are faint, so faint, in fact, that detecting them is not an easy feat. > … > [I]t’s the faint halos of the galaxies that indeed appear to have started to touch one another. Thus, in a manner of speaking, the collision between our two galaxies has already started. The horror, the horror… ---
**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:** [August 4, 2022, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/816 "2022-08-04T04:01:38Z")
> [@TroutMan](#): > > Well, for certain definitions of “violent”. It’s not like stars are smashing into each other. A collision of galaxies means slow gravity interactions over hundreds of millions of years. True, but it could well be considered “violent” on cosmological timescales, since those gravitational interactions completely transform the configuration of both galaxies. Also, presumably the two supermassive black holes merged, an event violent enough to create significant gravitational waves. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2022, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/817 "2022-08-04T06:53:38Z")
Yeah, was going to say but forgot, the Cartwheel Galaxy’s appearance is a real pleaser. Usually when two galaxies get done colliding and merging with each other all you’re left with is a boring ol’ [elliptical galaxy](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elliptical_galaxy). ---
**Author:** ![pjd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pjd/32/3009_2.png) [@pjd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pjd)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2022, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/818 "2022-08-05T15:11:05Z")
i guess this sort of thing was inevitable … > **[Scientist forced to apologise after ‘picture of star’ turns out to be chorizo](https://www.independent.co.uk/space/chorizo-star-picture-twitter-etienne-klein-b2138952.html)** > > ‘I come to present my apologies to those whom my hoax may have shocked,’ renowned physicist Étienne Klein said (don’t worry - it’s not the cartwheel picture that’s fake) ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [August 5, 2022, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/819 "2022-08-05T15:25:30Z")
That’s hilarious. ---
**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:** [August 5, 2022, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624/820 "2022-08-05T15:30:47Z")
Story link that doesn’t require signing up to read > **[Renowned Physicist Apologizes for Saying Slice of Chorizo Was JWST Image](https://www.newsweek.com/etienne-klein-chorizo-sausage-james-webb-proxima-centauri-1731217)** > > Etienne Klein's charcuterie sausage-based astronomy gag was amusing for many but fell flat for others. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624.md?page=40) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/james-webb-space-telescope-general-discussion-thread/956624.md?page=42)