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It has solar panels, so it can't be in shadow. IIUC the advantage of earth-sun L2 is it's away from the light and shadow of the earth and moon, while being rea
by nitrogen 5y ago
It has solar panels, so it can't be in shadow. IIUC the advantage of earth-sun L2 is it's away from the light and shadow of the earth and moon, while being reachable by radio year round.
- ascar 5y agoI didn't check for sources again earlier, but this NASA article [1] explains it. Yea shadow was the wrong word and doesn't actually apply because of the relative size of the sun and earth. However the L2 point is by definition in a straight line Sun -> Earth -> L2, so if the sun would be a single point light source that would block the sun and place the JWST in the permanent shadow thrown by the earth. The point is actually that the sunscreen is always facing earth and sun at the same time to block/reflect a maximum of heat. [1] https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/about/orbit.html https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/about/orbit.html
- finnh 5y agoIt's orbiting L2, not at it. It will have basically constant sunshine, which is good - solar panels provide all its power. (no RTG)
- richardwhiuk 5y agoIt has constant sunshine on one side, and constant darkness on the other.