James Webb photos starting to be released

RX Reven' said:

Since it's broadly believed that the singularity was an infinitely small point, I think the only way to fit the entire universe into zero space is if information is actually what the universe is fundamentally made of.

AIUI (I'm a software guy, not a cosmologist), the idea of the universe going all the way back to a point of infinite density is no longer generally thought to be true.  Rather, the idea of "cosmic inflation" says that the big bang happened at a small (but not infinitely small) point when the exponential expansion of space (which is what inflation is) stopped in some part of the universe.

As for where the big bang happened, the answer is that it happened everywhere.  The expansion after the big bang is not stuff moving through space away from an explosion (the way that the name kind of implies), but rather space itself expanding.  The distance between any pair of two points is getting larger, with new space appearing between them. 

There's a great youtube channel called "PBS SpaceTime" that talks about this kind of thing at a very approachable level.

In reply to codrus (Forum Supporter) :

Thanks for that link, it might take me a while to watch all of those episodes. You guys have given me a lot to think about in regards to my Torus Universe theory. Instead of a contraction, my universe is actually always expanding right up until it goes into the singularity, viewed from the 5th dimension which shows the past, present, and future all at once. I don't know how to draw the hyper inflation right after the big bang, but at least it kind of fits the current expanding universe model.?

Here's the latest from Webb:

So what happens to the Hubble now? Does it get retasked to shooting stuff that's more in its wheelhouse now that there's a hotter ne model doing the job? Or do they just flip it to Carvana or something?

JG Pasterjak said:

So what happens to the Hubble now? Does it get retasked to shooting stuff that's more in its wheelhouse now that there's a hotter ne model doing the job? Or do they just flip it to Carvana or something?

Do we have a voting feature here?

How about we point it directly at the sun next July 4th and watch the explosion of fireworks shoot out its tailpipe. 

I expect getting retasked to shooting stuff it's better suited to is the answer, can't let a working space telescope go to waste, even if it's running on duct tape and zip ties at this point...

GameboyRMH said:

I expect getting retasked to shooting stuff it's better suited to is the answer, can't let a working space telescope go to waste, even if it's running on duct tape and zip ties at this point...

Joking aside it could be used for:

1.  Initial investigations to better determine how best to utilize J.W.

2.  Generalized training for future J.W. operators.

3.  P.R. and revenue generation by allowing private individuals to pick targets.

I know it seems wasteful to decommission it but there does come a point where the cost no longer justifies the benefit.

BTW, I really wish the Shuttle had been designed to place its liquid fuel tank into orbit (at least for lower power requirement missions and common orbital path missions) rather than just letting them all burn up reentering

Even if we only did this a quarter of the time, we'd now have 30+ aerospace quality tanks ready to use for storage (probably not pressurized) or as sun / meteoroid shields or they could even be used as raw material to construct other things with.

So, after all of the trouble that NASA had maintaining the Hubble telescope, I would hope that the JWST would be designed for robotic maintenance with plug and play modules. Probably not since they can't even put dust wipers on the solar panels on the Mars landers.

VolvoHeretic said:

So, after all of the trouble that NASA had maintaining the Hubble telescope, I would hope that the JWST would be designed for robotic maintenance with plug and play modules. Probably not since they can't even put dust wipers on the solar panels on the Mars landers.

It's all OBD-ii complaint.  Soon we'll see error messages about the bank 5 o2 sensors..

There's a video here that puts the size of that first image in perspective:

https://twitter.com/AlyssaAGoodman/status/1546675001755111424

In reply to GameboyRMH :

Wow, that's pretty amazing!

WonkoTheSane said:

VolvoHeretic said:

So, after all of the trouble that NASA had maintaining the Hubble telescope, I would hope that the JWST would be designed for robotic maintenance with plug and play modules. Probably not since they can't even put dust wipers on the solar panels on the Mars landers.

It's all OBD-ii complaint.  Soon we'll see error messages about the bank 5 o2 sensors..

That reminds me. I need to call NASA to talk them about their telescopes extended warrantee

Waiting for the conspiracy theory flat earth/anti-gov/crazy people to release a new Reddit statement that runs wild in the internet and further takes mankind into a cyclical loop of distrust of the only space program that's actually trustworthy. 

Here are a couple of James Webb high res. photos. Download them onto your computer and look at them on your 4K giant TV and then zoom in. TIF or PNG Public Domain.

Edit; the amazing thing is that those tiny little specs of light are galaxies that date back to the beginning of the universe.

webbtelescope.org: Stephan's Quintet 12654 x 12132 res. 1/5 the diameter of the moon.

webbtelescope.org: North Ecliptic Pole Time Domain Field 18828 X 6397 res. 2% of the moon's area.

From all the reading and listening to books about Stars and Galaxies. That Galaxies have the reminace of a huge star (black hole) that Supernova'd in the center. That Supernova blasted all the material outward to create the Stars and Planets that orbit the center mass of its own Galaxy.  Talk about recycling!

Can't we adopt the Hubble Telescope as a GRM project? It is 42 years old like a lot of the projects here?

MyMiatas said:

From all the reading and listening to books about Stars and Galaxies. That Galaxies have the reminace of a huge star (black hole) that Supernova'd in the center. That Supernova blasted all the material outward to create the Stars and Planets that orbit the center mass of its own Galaxy.  Talk about recycling!

As I understand it, almost all galaxies have at least one super massive black hole at their core and their mass is consistently around one half of one percent of the total galaxy.

Cosmotography.com Article

In reply to DrMikeCSI :

I'm thinking the Hubble is only an LS swap and some Hoosier A7s away from being a lot of fun.

In reply to RX Reven' :

That is correct. The only thing with enough mass to make an entire galaxy orbit it is a black hole. 

Here is information on super massive black holes written in simple language that us common folks can understand. wikipedia.org: Supermassive black hole

Of interest is that one of the largest galaxies out there might not have a central super massive black hole which is an elliptical galaxy. Wikipidia.org: A2261-BCG

I thought that NASA had just released an article about spiral galaxies that where missing a central supermassive black hole, but I can't find anything on it.

Yahoo.com: NASA’s Telescope Spots a Sonic Boom Bigger Than the Milky Way

Space.com: James Webb Space Telescope spots 'Sparkler Galaxy' that could host universe's 1st stars

This isn't James Webb but either Wednesday or Thursday night (two different BBC sites say one or the other) Venus and Jupiter will be in Conjunction (appearing to almost converge). Venus (the brighter planet) will be between Earth and the Sun and Jupiter will be on the other side of the solar system. The moon will be a bonus sighting.

Dark skies: Venus, Jupiter [Conjunction], and the Moon pictured across Wales

Thanks for sharing! 

Could some knowledgeable person explain to us utterly fascinated but tragically ignorant peasant what I'm looking at here? 

"Edit; the amazing thing is that those tiny little specs of light are galaxies that date back to the beginning of the universe."

I'll be honest..... sentences like these gives me a touch of anxiety. It's just impossible to take in the size and distance that we are talking about. It also makes our pathetic quarrels (most centered around which of our imaginary creator-friends has the biggest dick) on this little pebble in space even more pathetic. 

That is a cloud of hydrogen gas and molecular dust that is collapsing under its own gravity and will form new stars and planets eventually. The dust is heavy elements that where created when massive stars burn up their hydrogen and covert it into helium, up the periodic table until they reach iron in mere tens of millions of years. After they hit Iron,  they explode as a super nova creating and spewing all of the heavy elements that make up the Earth and you and me.

MyMiatas said:

From all the reading and listening to books about Stars and Galaxies. That Galaxies have the reminace of a huge star (black hole) that Supernova'd in the center. That Supernova blasted all the material outward to create the Stars and Planets that orbit the center mass of its own Galaxy.  Talk about recycling!

Explain the elephants and the giant turtle then.