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NASA's Webb to examine objects in the graveyard of the solar system:
Beyond the orbit of Neptune, a diverse collection of thousands of dwarf planets and other relatively small objects dwells in a region called the Kuiper Belt. These often-pristine leftovers from our solar system's days of planet formation are called Kuiper Belt objects, or trans-Neptunian objects. NASA's upcoming James Webb Space Telescope will examine an assortment of these icy bodies in a series of programs called Guaranteed Time Observations shortly after its launch in 2021. The goal is to learn more about how our solar system formed.
"These are objects that are in the graveyard of solar system formation," explained Cornell University's Jonathan Lunine, a Webb Interdisciplinary Scientist who will use Webb to study some of these targets. "They're in a place where they could last for billions of years, and there aren't many places like that in our solar system. We'd love to know what they're like."
By studying these bodies, Lunine and his colleagues hope to learn about which ices were present in the early solar system. These are the coldest worlds to display geologic and atmospheric activity, so scientists are also interested in comparing them with the planets.
[...] The James Webb Space Telescope will be the world's premier space science observatory when it launches in 2021. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international program led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by c0lo on Saturday October 31 2020, @03:03AM (6 children)
I don't know why I have this nagging feeling of reading detailed plans on what one could do if only the one was to win the lottery. Probably because the so many news pieces about the Webb telescope written using the future tense.
Don't get me wrong, planning is good and dandy. But, for a change, how about launching it first and report the news after? Pretty please?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Saturday October 31 2020, @07:10AM
Well, it's not up there yet. They should have called it the "Guaranteed Time Future Observations" program.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2020, @08:02AM (1 child)
These stories are about keeping the project alive long enough to get it launched. Webb is already late and unlikely to meet the 2021 launch date and there are legitimate fears that funding will be cut in favour of the SLS, because Congress considers NASA to be a vehicle for pork and actual science as a needless expense.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Saturday October 31 2020, @08:07AM
The fact that I know why doesn't quite mitigate the feeling of weariness.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday October 31 2020, @08:47AM (2 children)
At this point, it might be better for JWST to fail or the Ariane 5 rocket carrying it to explode, if it helps usher in a new era of cheap, modular telescopes.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 01 2020, @01:22AM (1 child)
With cheap crappy images.
You are not getting your 1000 Fizeau focussed telescopes before you die. Maybe your grandchildren's lifetime.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday November 01 2020, @05:26AM
Nah. NASA already has all the technologies needed to launch telescopes that are bigger and better than JWST at a fraction of the ~$10 billion cost. They just need that kick in the ass to change how they do things.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2020, @05:45AM (2 children)
Just another occult organization.
Check this out, many companies and organizations are switching the letter A to "/\". Pyramid bullshit you just have to beware. Do not buy products from companies using the A as a pyramid. Some will make fun of you but that's how you know you're on the right track. Fuck normies.
There is a WHOLE WORLD of shit going on right in plain view which you cannot perceive unless you get your mind straight.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday October 31 2020, @06:51AM (1 child)
FTFY? I can't tell. But this is closest I could come to sense.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 01 2020, @05:26AM
FTFY, because cents to closets is how this one tells of fate.