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The Webb telescope has 'perfectly misshaped' mirrors
- marcodiego 5y agoPeople still remember Hubble's first months. This is clearly a clickbaity title trying to capitalize on that.
- ourmandave 5y agoIf something does go wrong there's no way to send a repair crew like on Hubble. Talk about pressure to get everything right on the first try.
- smegsicle 5y agobecause L2 is so much more of a pain to reach?
- Stratoscope 5y agoThis has nothing to do with Hubble's first months. The article describes how the mirrors are deliberately misshapen at normal Earth temperatures, so when they cool down to their -380F/-230C/44K operating temperature they will then (hopefully!) be in focus. I did not know that before; I learned about it and a few other interesting facts from this article. Clickbaity title or not, I found it an informative read.
- Tagbert 5y agoThe headline is definitely playing off of fears of a repeat of the Hubble error.
- wolverine876 5y agoMost readers of the Houston Chronicle are unware of that, I expect.
- smegsicle 5y agoidk i hear space crap is kind of a big deal there? not to mention most readers who care at all about this new telescope probably have indeed read about the old one..
- wolverine876 5y agoGood points, though I won't take them that far. To be aware of the Hubble's issues at the time, you'd need to be at least ~40 years old now.
- tejtm 5y agoahh yes, much the same way Legos are "perfectly misshaped" marbles
- bil7 5y agothe first 6 words of this headline shot fear through me, jumping to the conclusion that something had gone wrong with the launch setup
- kingcharles 5y agoI think that was the (clickbait) idea... :(
- khazhoux 5y agoWhy post a link to a Houston Chronicle article that requires registration? How many HN readers possibly want to join Houston Chronicle site?
- LargoLasskhyfv 5y agoIt's perfectly readable with Javascript off.
- khazhoux 5y agoWhy would someone post an article to HN that requires disabling JS?
- LargoLasskhyfv 5y agoWhy would someone reading HN complain about something that should be default behavior, besides the fact it can be arranged to be toggled by one click or hotkey?
- BrazzVuvuzela 5y agoIt's not "misshaped" if it's precisely the way it's meant to be. The media need to stop trading credibility for clicks, before they run out. I flagged this article, if the idea is to give HN a pretext to talk about Webb, there are plenty of better articles out there to use.
- wolverine876 5y agoThat's what the article says.
- wolverine876 5y ago> And since materials shrink when they get cold, scientists and engineers created mirrors that were imperfect on Earth but will have the perfect shape (and come into focus) in the frigid environment of space. I'm surprised it can be done so precisely, including predicting the relative rates at which components will cool as it journeys through space. Does anyone know something that describes the engineering and solutions involved? Does it depend on materials? Modeling? Mechanisms for adjustment after it cools?
- kingcharles 5y agohttps://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.houstonchronicle.com%2Fnews%2Fhouston-texas%2Fspace%2Farticle%2FWhy-NASA-s-new-James-Webb-Space-Telescope-the-16707013.php https://12ft.io/proxy?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.houstonchronicle.c...