James Webb Space Telescope's golden mirror in final test

[Judi Lynn]

Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent
@BBCAmoson Twitter

Published 19 hours ago

The technological marvel that is the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is going through final testing before being shipped to the launch site.

The successor to the mighty Hubble is due to leave Earth in October to begin a new era of astronomical discovery.

One of Webb's key objectives will be to catch the glow from the first stars to shine in the Universe.

To do this, it's been given a 6.5m-wide, golden mirror that engineers are now checking one last time.

The segmented reflector has to be folded to fit inside the launch rocket - that's how big it is; and the technicians at aerospace manufacturer Northrop Grumman want to be sure that it'll have no problems being straightened out again once in space.

More:
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-57078657

[ZZenith]

1. We're some pretty smart monkeys, all things considered.

Crawled out of the slime just a while back and now here we are slinging giant mirrors up into space to get a better view of the neighborhood.

Gotta love humans.

[burrowowl]

2. Yes lol

We should do more of this and less of war and earth destruction

[ZZenith]

3. I'm 100% with burrowowl on this one.

[spike jones]

4. Humans and chimps share 99% of DNA.

That one percent is the difference between sitting in the woods eating rotten fruit with your hands, and going to the moon.

[ZZenith]

5. I personally like to sit in the woods and eat rotten fruit with my hands.

And have never been to the moon.

I’m a m-m-m-m-monkey!

[denbot]

8. LoL

Me too, me too!

[ZZenith]

9. !!!

[LudwigPastorius]

6. We can be smart, but...

I'm starting to believe the "Great Filter" (the umbrella term for the theories on why we don't 'see' a galaxy teeming with intelligent life) will be our own greed and paranoia.

Sad to say, we'll probably off ourselves as a species before a giant rock does the job.

(...just spreading little rays of sunshine today.)

[ZZenith]

7. Thanks for sharing, LudwigPastorius.

The world needs “glass completely empty” people too, I suppose.

[Kid Berwyn]

10. Light Bucket Time Machine

https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/

[renate]

13. Oh wow wow wow!!!

Now I REALLY can’t wait! Woo hoo!!!

[Kid Berwyn]

14. We live in interesting times.

The 5 Massive New Telescopes That Will Change Astronomy Forever

https://gizmodo.com/the-5-massive-new-telescopes-that-will-change-astronomy-1610529758

[Judi Lynn]

15. What a link! Thank you for sharing this. Wonderful. ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐

[RicROC]

11. I'd also be in favor of someone rebuilding...

the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico. Visited there once and was impressed.

[JohnnyRingo]

12. Thanx For Posting!

I didn't know it was getting ready to launch.
Fingers crossed.