| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! 11:09 - Jan 10 with 2611 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
Probably the most exciting space-thing in my lifetime, just ahead of the Mars rover. Question for me is not about the stars it discovers when it reaches the L2 insertion, but will it discover alien life? Currently it looks like we'll be unable to travel far enough to discover it that way... so 'looking' might be our best bet? |  |
| Trust the process. Trust Phil. |
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 11:13 - Jan 10 with 1714 views | Keno |
It was doing a scan trying to find somewhere with an atmosphere and intelligent life, but so far the search hasn't gone well
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 11:15 - Jan 10 with 1698 views | NthQldITFC |
| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 11:13 - Jan 10 by Keno |
It was doing a scan trying to find somewhere with an atmosphere and intelligent life, but so far the search hasn't gone well
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They picked up a glint of silver on that early test image, but have since corrected the aberration, with a 12 nanometre adjustment to mirror segment 13. |  |
| # WE ARE STEALING THE FUTURE FROM OUR CHILDREN --- WE MUST CHANGE COURSE # | | Poll: | It's driving me nuts |
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 11:20 - Jan 10 with 1680 views | catch74 |
| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 11:13 - Jan 10 by Keno |
It was doing a scan trying to find somewhere with an atmosphere and intelligent life, but so far the search hasn't gone well
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I think people are going to be quite shocked and appalled at what alien life can resemble. |  |
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 11:20 - Jan 10 with 1681 views | homer_123 |
It's great but for me....it's the fact that we have two 'person made' vehicles leaving our solar system - that's just incredible and the fact they were launched in the 70s and were still working (to a degree) so we can measure they are now in interstellar space.
That's the most exciting thing for me in my lifetime. |  |
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 11:23 - Jan 10 with 1669 views | Keno |
| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 11:20 - Jan 10 by homer_123 |
It's great but for me....it's the fact that we have two 'person made' vehicles leaving our solar system - that's just incredible and the fact they were launched in the 70s and were still working (to a degree) so we can measure they are now in interstellar space.
That's the most exciting thing for me in my lifetime. |
"That's the most exciting thing for me in my lifetime"
I watched the moon landings, although Apollo 13 was probably the most exciting thing I can remember | |
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 11:24 - Jan 10 with 1667 views | NthQldITFC |
'Most exciting space-thing'?
Maybe, but I think I'll stick with the discovery that The Soup Dragon had been slipping Psilocybe semilanceatae into the mushroom soup and that it only appeared to be green to those who consumed it, for now at least. | |
| # WE ARE STEALING THE FUTURE FROM OUR CHILDREN --- WE MUST CHANGE COURSE # | | Poll: | It's driving me nuts |
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 11:33 - Jan 10 with 1634 views | MattinLondon |
| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 11:15 - Jan 10 by NthQldITFC |
They picked up a glint of silver on that early test image, but have since corrected the aberration, with a 12 nanometre adjustment to mirror segment 13. |
It’s life Jim, but not as we know it. |  | | |
| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 11:52 - Jan 10 with 1572 views | Samuelowen88 |
JWST isn't designed for searching for life. And in reality the chances of it discovering it are minimal. It just isn't looking the right way for that. JWST looks for infrared, so unless extraterrestrial life is sending messages with a heat gun it isnt gonna work.
Very exciting and up there for me of things so far I've witnessed.
But i still think in my life we will see:
- Permanent Moon Base
- First people on Mars (potential research base, but no 'colony')
- extraterrestrial life confirmed. Probably a moon within our solar system.
- evidence of past life on Mars confirmed
Not sure about finding sentient life, it's out there for sure, pure numbers of solar systems means its hight likely. But to discover it? Not sure. Millions of years to develop suitable communication methods, us looking in the correct place, realising what we are seeing is communication..... a lot to ask IMO |  |
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 12:20 - Jan 10 with 1492 views | Guthrum |
| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 11:52 - Jan 10 by Samuelowen88 |
JWST isn't designed for searching for life. And in reality the chances of it discovering it are minimal. It just isn't looking the right way for that. JWST looks for infrared, so unless extraterrestrial life is sending messages with a heat gun it isnt gonna work.
Very exciting and up there for me of things so far I've witnessed.
But i still think in my life we will see:
- Permanent Moon Base
- First people on Mars (potential research base, but no 'colony')
- extraterrestrial life confirmed. Probably a moon within our solar system.
- evidence of past life on Mars confirmed
Not sure about finding sentient life, it's out there for sure, pure numbers of solar systems means its hight likely. But to discover it? Not sure. Millions of years to develop suitable communication methods, us looking in the correct place, realising what we are seeing is communication..... a lot to ask IMO |
Not convinced about manned Moon or Mars bases. There's no need for it with the automation technology we now have. Dragging life support systems there adds a huge amount of weight and complexity*, not to mention far tighter duration limits. Plus if something goes wrong, you risk dead people, rather than just broken kit. When the mission finishes, humans will have to return to Earth, which requires a whole new set of systems, whereas robots can just be turned off and left there.
In the end it becomes more of a prestige stunt than a practical development.
* Edit: and cost! [Post edited 10 Jan 2022 12:21]
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 13:41 - Jan 10 with 1409 views | factual_blue |
| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 11:23 - Jan 10 by Keno |
"That's the most exciting thing for me in my lifetime"
I watched the moon landings, although Apollo 13 was probably the most exciting thing I can remember |
You mean the moon landings faked by Stanley Kubrick?
Apollo 13 was just a tale fabricated by Ron Howard and Tom Hanks. |  |
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 13:52 - Jan 10 with 1386 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 11:20 - Jan 10 by homer_123 |
It's great but for me....it's the fact that we have two 'person made' vehicles leaving our solar system - that's just incredible and the fact they were launched in the 70s and were still working (to a degree) so we can measure they are now in interstellar space.
That's the most exciting thing for me in my lifetime. |
Yeah it's more the potential of what the JW could discover... and it's only 6 months away (from when we start getting data).
I wonder how the planet would react if alien life were discovered. I guess it depends in what form - if it's intelligent life racing about all over the place people would go mental. If it's a few microbes, less so! | |
| Trust the process. Trust Phil. |
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 13:54 - Jan 10 with 1380 views | BLUEBEAT |
Does it plug into the Hadron Collider? |  |
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 13:55 - Jan 10 with 1379 views | Samuelowen88 |
To add to this it was announced over the weekend that due to the near perfect launch and trajectory insertion by Ariane 5 that JWST life expectancy has DOUBLED! it was planned for a 10 year life span, but as they need to little fuel to do course corrections, 20 years. That is just mental. | |
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 13:57 - Jan 10 with 1370 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 11:52 - Jan 10 by Samuelowen88 |
JWST isn't designed for searching for life. And in reality the chances of it discovering it are minimal. It just isn't looking the right way for that. JWST looks for infrared, so unless extraterrestrial life is sending messages with a heat gun it isnt gonna work.
Very exciting and up there for me of things so far I've witnessed.
But i still think in my life we will see:
- Permanent Moon Base
- First people on Mars (potential research base, but no 'colony')
- extraterrestrial life confirmed. Probably a moon within our solar system.
- evidence of past life on Mars confirmed
Not sure about finding sentient life, it's out there for sure, pure numbers of solar systems means its hight likely. But to discover it? Not sure. Millions of years to develop suitable communication methods, us looking in the correct place, realising what we are seeing is communication..... a lot to ask IMO |
I know the JW isn't designed for searching for life. But it could certainly find planets that look like they harbour life by their atmospheres (heard this on a Prof Brian Greene podcast). I think you're being rather facetious to suggest "unless extraterrestrial life is sending messages with a heat gun it isnt gonna work." That's simply not true. | |
| Trust the process. Trust Phil. |
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 14:00 - Jan 10 with 1366 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 12:20 - Jan 10 by Guthrum |
Not convinced about manned Moon or Mars bases. There's no need for it with the automation technology we now have. Dragging life support systems there adds a huge amount of weight and complexity*, not to mention far tighter duration limits. Plus if something goes wrong, you risk dead people, rather than just broken kit. When the mission finishes, humans will have to return to Earth, which requires a whole new set of systems, whereas robots can just be turned off and left there.
In the end it becomes more of a prestige stunt than a practical development.
* Edit: and cost! [Post edited 10 Jan 2022 12:21]
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I take your points but I think a manned Moon or Mars base would be more than a prestige stunt. To me it's a needed step towards colonising the universe in the future. | |
| Trust the process. Trust Phil. |
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 14:03 - Jan 10 with 1354 views | Samuelowen88 |
| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 13:57 - Jan 10 by The_Flashing_Smile |
I know the JW isn't designed for searching for life. But it could certainly find planets that look like they harbour life by their atmospheres (heard this on a Prof Brian Greene podcast). I think you're being rather facetious to suggest "unless extraterrestrial life is sending messages with a heat gun it isnt gonna work." That's simply not true. |
Yeah sorry. It is possible. As you say it could find a suitable planet. Could see signs of Oxygen or CO2 in atmosphere, which could imply life but not confirm it.
But actual direct evidence of life I think is unlikely. (Hopefully I am proven wrong) | |
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 14:07 - Jan 10 with 1337 views | Darth_Koont |
| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 14:00 - Jan 10 by The_Flashing_Smile |
I take your points but I think a manned Moon or Mars base would be more than a prestige stunt. To me it's a needed step towards colonising the universe in the future. |
Colonising even the closest solar systems in our galaxy is so far off as an idea that by the time we could do it I’m sure we’ll be thinking much bigger and travelling the universe virtually instead.
IMO of course. |  |
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 14:08 - Jan 10 with 1332 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 14:03 - Jan 10 by Samuelowen88 |
Yeah sorry. It is possible. As you say it could find a suitable planet. Could see signs of Oxygen or CO2 in atmosphere, which could imply life but not confirm it.
But actual direct evidence of life I think is unlikely. (Hopefully I am proven wrong) |
Yeah. The romantic in me is picturing JW looking out and seeing spaceships shooting about like Star Wars crossed with Piccadilly Circus in the far reaches of space, while Earth is like a little backwater in Norfolk cut off from everything. Which is probably unlikely! | |
| Trust the process. Trust Phil. |
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 14:10 - Jan 10 with 1325 views | Samuelowen88 |
| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 14:00 - Jan 10 by The_Flashing_Smile |
I take your points but I think a manned Moon or Mars base would be more than a prestige stunt. To me it's a needed step towards colonising the universe in the future. |
Exactly this.
It will be expensive, BUT if you want to do more exploration of the outer solar system or anything further than the moon. The cost saving and fuel saving by launching from the moon outweighs Launching from earth.
They are already discovering the moon has enough water to support life if you can get to it and use it.
ISS has just been extended by the USA (only them for now) for another 10 years.
There are now plans for private company stations. For tourism and renting back to space agencies.
https://www.orbitalreef.com/
https://nanoracks.com/starlab/
https://www.axiomspace.com/axiom-station | |
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 14:12 - Jan 10 with 1318 views | The_Flashing_Smile |
| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 14:07 - Jan 10 by Darth_Koont |
Colonising even the closest solar systems in our galaxy is so far off as an idea that by the time we could do it I’m sure we’ll be thinking much bigger and travelling the universe virtually instead.
IMO of course. |
Yep, although if we don't colonise space we're likely to die on this planet (by "we" I mean all things on Earth). Not just for the fact that the sun is finite either... we'll likely have destroyed the planet long before that goes. | |
| Trust the process. Trust Phil. |
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 14:31 - Jan 10 with 1292 views | Guthrum |
| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 14:10 - Jan 10 by Samuelowen88 |
Exactly this.
It will be expensive, BUT if you want to do more exploration of the outer solar system or anything further than the moon. The cost saving and fuel saving by launching from the moon outweighs Launching from earth.
They are already discovering the moon has enough water to support life if you can get to it and use it.
ISS has just been extended by the USA (only them for now) for another 10 years.
There are now plans for private company stations. For tourism and renting back to space agencies.
https://www.orbitalreef.com/
https://nanoracks.com/starlab/
https://www.axiomspace.com/axiom-station |
Earth orbit bases make a lot more sense.
Less far to haul everything you need. Zero gravity allows different construction methods (no cranes needed). No issues with having to land and take off again.
For building stuff on the Moon, you'd need to launch pretty much everything from Earth and take it there. Mining and ore processing equipment tends to be very heavy. Then there is the matter of fuel (no organic hydrocarbons) and nights lasting the best part of 14 Earth days (no solar power). | |
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 16:46 - Jan 10 with 1224 views | wkj |
| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 11:52 - Jan 10 by Samuelowen88 |
JWST isn't designed for searching for life. And in reality the chances of it discovering it are minimal. It just isn't looking the right way for that. JWST looks for infrared, so unless extraterrestrial life is sending messages with a heat gun it isnt gonna work.
Very exciting and up there for me of things so far I've witnessed.
But i still think in my life we will see:
- Permanent Moon Base
- First people on Mars (potential research base, but no 'colony')
- extraterrestrial life confirmed. Probably a moon within our solar system.
- evidence of past life on Mars confirmed
Not sure about finding sentient life, it's out there for sure, pure numbers of solar systems means its hight likely. But to discover it? Not sure. Millions of years to develop suitable communication methods, us looking in the correct place, realising what we are seeing is communication..... a lot to ask IMO |
Im more interested in the data, it sends back on Proxima. We already know we have E.T. life in our solar system - often found in the Mars Bar. |  |
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 17:00 - Jan 10 with 1198 views | StokieBlue |
| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 11:52 - Jan 10 by Samuelowen88 |
JWST isn't designed for searching for life. And in reality the chances of it discovering it are minimal. It just isn't looking the right way for that. JWST looks for infrared, so unless extraterrestrial life is sending messages with a heat gun it isnt gonna work.
Very exciting and up there for me of things so far I've witnessed.
But i still think in my life we will see:
- Permanent Moon Base
- First people on Mars (potential research base, but no 'colony')
- extraterrestrial life confirmed. Probably a moon within our solar system.
- evidence of past life on Mars confirmed
Not sure about finding sentient life, it's out there for sure, pure numbers of solar systems means its hight likely. But to discover it? Not sure. Millions of years to develop suitable communication methods, us looking in the correct place, realising what we are seeing is communication..... a lot to ask IMO |
That's not how the JWST will look for life, it's not going to look for messages.
It will directly image exoplanets and then use Spectroscopy to analyse the light imaged. This will allow scientists to work out what the atmosphere is made of and in what quantities. For instance it could find methane in the atmosphere of an exoplanet and that could indicate that there are bacteria or animals there generating that methane. Likewise a large amount of oxygen in the atmosphere could indicate a thriving photosynthesis-based ecosystem.
There is a very, very small chance of other "slam dunk" findings. For instance, Earth had a large amount of CFC's in the atmosphere for about 50 years until we found out they were destroying the ozone layer. CFC's aren't naturally occurring, if they were spotted in an atmosphere then it would be a huge indicator of possible intelligent life and then SETI could focus on sending or looking for signals from that target exoplanet. Unfortunately the timescales for these to be present would be tiny in astronomical terms and thus it's unlikely we would spot them.
SB [Post edited 10 Jan 2022 17:01]
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| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 17:03 - Jan 10 with 1190 views | ArnoldMoorhen |
| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 14:08 - Jan 10 by The_Flashing_Smile |
Yeah. The romantic in me is picturing JW looking out and seeing spaceships shooting about like Star Wars crossed with Piccadilly Circus in the far reaches of space, while Earth is like a little backwater in Norfolk cut off from everything. Which is probably unlikely! |
Earth is a bit less Watto, a bit more Watton, you mean? |  | | |
| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 17:05 - Jan 10 with 1187 views | Guthrum |
| The James Webb Telescope is fully deployed! on 14:12 - Jan 10 by The_Flashing_Smile |
Yep, although if we don't colonise space we're likely to die on this planet (by "we" I mean all things on Earth). Not just for the fact that the sun is finite either... we'll likely have destroyed the planet long before that goes. |
Tho if we're thinking of living in pods on other celestial bodies, we may as well build them here on Earth. It's cheaper, closer and quicker, so more can be saved.
Even the worst-case climate change scenarios predict considerably milder environments than those on the Moon or Mars. | |
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