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Earth's umbra doesn't reach L2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umbra,_penumbra_and_antumbra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umbra,_penumbra_and_antumbra https://
by willis936 5y ago
Earth's umbra doesn't reach L2.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umbra,_penumbra_and_antumbra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umbra,_penumbra_and_antumbra
https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/13585/does-earths-umbra-reach-sun-earth-l2#13663 https://astronomy.stackexchange.com/questions/13585/does-ear...
- bgirard 5y agoI did some research here to understand this better: https://webb.nasa.gov/content/about/orbit.html https://webb.nasa.gov/content/about/orbit.html > This [L2] orbit (which takes Webb about 6 months to complete once) keeps the telescope out of the shadows of both the Earth and Moon. >What is special about this orbit is that it lets the telescope stay in line with the Earth as it moves around the Sun. and > Webb's position out at L2 also makes it easy for us to talk to it. Since it will always be at the same location relative to Earth-in the midnight sky about 1.5 million km away - we can have continuous communications with it as the Earth rotates through the Deep Space Network (DSN)
- willis936 5y agoAs did I. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29859522 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29859522
- justin66 5y agoAh, that stack exchange comment is super interesting. "If Earth would be 9% larger in diameter, but with the same mass, its umbra would end almost exactly at L2."