4 ms·
JW does indeed circle that Lagrange point, but it is definitely not in Earth’s shadow. The JW orbit semi major axis (about the L2 point) is order of 500,000 km
by mturmon 5y ago
JW does indeed circle that Lagrange point, but it is definitely not in Earth’s shadow.
The JW orbit semi major axis (about the L2 point) is order of 500,000 km. The radius of Earth is about 6500 km. Thus, the shadow of the Earth is extremely small compared with the excursions of JW.
- ddalex 5y agoThe earth's shadow never reaches L2 anyhow - it's only penumbra at that distance since the angular size of the earth is smaller then the angular size of the Sun
- mturmon 5y agoGood point. JW is at about 1.01 AU, and the solar radius is a bit over 100x the Earth radius, so there’s not really even a “shadow”.
- jacquesm 5y agoBesides the sun being so stupendously large that the L2 point isn't in the direct shade cone anymore. At the orbit it is in full sunshine as though the Earth isn't there.