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Neil
03-Jun-2013, 09:43 AM
This is aimed to be launched in 5yrs time... Should be interesting. Compared to Hubble - http://jwst.nasa.gov/comparison.html

http://jwst.nasa.gov/images2/hstcompare.jpghttp://jwst.nasa.gov/images2/webbcompare.jpg



Webb will have a 6.5 meter diameter primary mirror, which would give it a significant larger collecting area than the mirrors available on the current generation of space telescopes. Hubble's mirror is a much smaller 2.4 meters in diameter and its corresponding collecting area is 4.5 m2, giving Webb around 7 times more collecting area! Webb will have significantly larger field of view than the NICMOS camera on Hubble (covering more than ~15 times the area) and significantly better spatial resolution than is available with the infrared Spitzer Space Telescope.

Rancid Carcass
03-Jun-2013, 03:24 PM
Looks like something you'd cobble together in Kerbal Space Program!

On a serious note:


Hubble is in a very close orbit around the earth, while Webb will be 1.5 million kilometers

That's one hell of a call out job for repairs - they can't just pop up there in shuttle this time and I'm not sure Green Flag go that far...

Be interesting to see what it can find though!

Neil
03-Jun-2013, 03:41 PM
That's one hell of a call out job for repairs - they can't just pop up there in shuttle this time and I'm not sure Green Flag go that far...
True, but knowing MCDonalds, they'll have a restaurant there!

Rancid Carcass
04-Jun-2013, 12:34 AM
True, but knowing MCDonalds, they'll have a restaurant there!

Aaaah - that'll be the one at the end of the universe... ;)