James Webb Telescope Saved! ...for now

John F. Kerry · 11-22-2011, 05:19 PM

I wrote my congresspeople in like may or june and I just got a response the other day...was pretty excited about it. and its pretty awesome that they voted to continue it... It would have been a terrible shame to cut the successor to Hubble when its already 3/4s built... if Congress had shown this much wisdom and foresight on other Nasa programs we would be getting ready for the first manned flights of the Ares 1 by now...

so its a bit of

and

at the same time, but hey, at least the whole world can look forward to seeing what JWST has to show and teach us in another half a decade!

Funds Restored to Build the James Webb Space Telescope | Observations, Scientific American Blog Network

Jester4yall · 11-22-2011, 06:41 PM

Quote:

If JWST can keep dodging legislative cost-cutting and finally take flight toward the end of the decade, it will take up a position well beyond the orbit of the moon to peer deeper into the universe than ever before with a giant, 6.5-meter mirror designed to corral faint infrared light. “The telescope does something that no one could ever tackle before,” Mather says. “There’s no competition in the past and there’s nothing planned for the future, as far as I know. It’s unique, it’s irreplaceable, it’s the only one.”

stoneric · 11-23-2011, 08:17 AM

Meanwhile grandma and and grandpa stock up on cat food although they don't have a cat.

Jester4yall · 11-23-2011, 10:00 AM

Shit imagine what we'll find with this thing... I had zero clue this was even being built until this post. I don't wanna wait as long as they say tho

kamikazi89 · 11-24-2011, 11:08 AM

Jester4yall · 12-05-2011, 10:33 PM

relevant to the post maybe?

NASA Telescope Confirms Alien Planet in Habitable Zone - Yahoo! News

Quote:

The $600 million Kepler observatory launched in March 2009 to hunt for Earth-size alien planets in the habitable zone of their parent stars, where liquid water, and perhaps even life, might be able to exist.

Quote:

NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft has confirmed the discovery of its first alien world in its host star's habitable zone — that just-right range of distances that could allow liquid water to exist — and found more than 1,000 new explanet candidates, researchers announced today (Dec. 5).

The new finds bring the Kepler space telescope's total haul to 2,326 potential planets in its first 16 months of operation.These discoveries, if confirmed, would quadruple the current tally of worlds known to exist beyond our solar system, which recently topped 700.

The potentially habitable alien world, a first for Kepler, orbits a star very much like our own sun. The discovery brings scientists one step closer to finding a planet like our own — one which could conceivably harbor life, scientists said.

"We're getting closer and closer to discovering the so-called 'Goldilocks planet,'" Pete Worden, director of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., said during a press conference today. [Gallery: The Strangest Alien Planets]

The newfound planet in the habitable zone is called Kepler-22b. It is located about 600 light-years away, orbiting a sun-like star.

Kepler-22b's radius is 2.4 times that of Earth, and the two planets have roughly similar temperatures. If the greenhouse effect operates there similarly to how it does on Earth, the average surface temperature on Kepler-22b would be 72 degrees Fahrenheit (22 degrees Celsius).

stuff like this is why I think we should keep funding space programs and telescopes.

kamikazi89 · 12-06-2011, 05:32 AM

that story reminds me of the old candid camera gag with the fishing line hooked with a twenty

deadhead94 · 12-06-2011, 05:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stoneric

Meanwhile grandma and and grandpa stock up on cat food although they don't have a cat.

Don't blame science when the military budget is like $750 billion. And I don't think that includes stuff that isn't directly related to the standing military. So it's probably closer to $1 trillion.

deadhead94 · 12-06-2011, 05:43 AM

Not to mention all the stuff that is too secret to go on the budget.

kamikazi89 · 12-06-2011, 06:25 AM

well, the Iraq and Afghanistan wars really ate into the budget didn't they? and if you consider that one was completely unnecessary and the other unnecessarily protracted
and both kept off the books, it's no wonder we're in the mess we're in.

poor decisions have consequences

stoneric · 12-06-2011, 02:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deadhead94

Don't blame science when the military budget is like $750 billion. And I don't think that includes stuff that isn't directly related to the standing military. So it's probably closer to $1 trillion.

You're preaching to the choir, but in reality the military budget is untouchable in our brainwashed country. Otherwise I would say spend away.

Terry · 12-06-2011, 04:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by deadhead94

Don't blame science when the military budget is like $750 billion. And I don't think that includes stuff that isn't directly related to the standing military. So it's probably closer to $1 trillion.

Even though I know Stoneric is against our ridiculous wasting of money on neo-imperialist adventures, I think you make an excellent point.

When politicians on either side ever call NASA funding a waste of money I want to slap them silly with the bills they constantly pass that ensure American hegemony while at home we all go broke because of it.

11-23-2011, 10:00 AM	#4 (permalink)
Jester4yall Spark It or Park It Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Africa Posts: 3,667 Thanks: 2,782 Thanked 1,327 Times in 949 Posts	Shit imagine what we'll find with this thing... I had zero clue this was even being built until this post. I don't wanna wait as long as they say tho __________________ http://i.imgur.com/CTV2E.gif In matters of style, swim with the current; In matters of principle, stand like a rock. -Thomas Jefferson You will encounter many distractions and many temptations to put your goal aside: The security of a job, a wife who wants kids, whatever. But if you hang in there, always following your vision, I have no doubt you will succeed. - Larry Flynt

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11-23-2011, 08:17 AM	#3 (permalink)
stoneric bougeman Join Date: Aug 2004 Posts: 5,646 Thanks: 704 Thanked 1,512 Times in 1,067 Posts	Meanwhile grandma and and grandpa stock up on cat food although they don't have a cat.

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