James Webb
12/19/21 Almost every final, I asked students to write a Haiku about our class. Glad to see how many students wrote that they had fun or learned a lot in the class. I used to think only surgeons can change people’s life. But now I think if I can bring a young student some knowledge, some warmth, some inspiration or even just a good day, it could also be something.
I did not yet fully learn how to use my sophisticated telescope. So this year, besides the mountains on the moon, I only have seen Saturn with its ring, the striped Jupiter with its moons. This Monday, I waited in the coldness for half an hour around 8 or 9pm. I saw two shooting stars around Geminid. One is under and left of Castor and the other is on its right. They are mostly white/silver, beautiful as firework, also like a firefly but flashing a thousand time brighter and bigger. It was a savoring and romantic moment, waited for their arrival, and then they arrived splendidly … A very dramatic week also includes a derecho and 80 mph wind in Iowa on Wed. The schools were all closed and the sirens were ringing like apocalyptic movies …
James Webb is a new telescope that will be launched Christmas eve from French Guiana, located at the north east of South America. It aims to arrive at the Lagrange Point where the gravity of earth and sun is balanced so the telescope will be able to remain in position. It is expected to take about 30 days to arrive there from its launch. Its expected mission time is 5-10 years. James Webb is 6+ times of Hubble, and will look at the universe in infrared. It is going to be launched by the Ariane 5 rocket. It will be unfold in space and has a giant heat shield to protect the light and heat from the sun, moon and earth so that it can work under 50 K. It is much further than Hubble too so that it is able to see 13.5/7 billion years ago after 100 millions years the universe was born. The Webb is developed by USA, European, Canadian space agencies and built by Northrop Grumman. It is shipped to south America using a boat going through the panama canal. It was hided well to escape from pirates’ pursuit. Currently it is planning to launch at 7:20am EST Dec 24. Totally worth to get up early to watch its launch. Considering the discoveries Hubble has contributed, I am very excited about James Webb and looking forward to its discoveries.
(Note: I did not confirm the info and numbers written above. It may contain mistakes.)