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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/
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!
By now you might be wondering: Why is the telescope #gold?
The mirrors are actually made of Beryllium, which is a very strong and lightweight metal, and are coated in a very thin layer of gold. The total amount of gold on #JWST is only about the size of a marble!
Why gold? Gold is VERY efficient at reflecting infrared light! JWST is designed to search for this heat in the early universe
@_astronoMay that’s a lot of good info I didn’t know! Thanks for sharing!
