5 ms·
Question; why is the Where is Webb page saying current speed is .1255 miles/second? There's a blurb in the explainer that says that speed is Earth relative. ht
by Maxburn 5y ago
Question; why is the Where is Webb page saying current speed is .1255 miles/second? There's a blurb in the explainer that says that speed is Earth relative.
https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/whereIsWebb.html?s=09 https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/whereIsWebb.html?s=...
- omnicognate 5y agoIt's in orbit round L2, not stationary relative to Earth. Video as linked by another comment: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cUe4oMk69E&list=TLGG8tIphgpDAHkyNDAxMjAyMg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6cUe4oMk69E&list=TLGG8tIphgp...
- Maxburn 5y agoWatching that video it seems to me relative to earth the speed is Zero? Distance to the earth is not changing. Relative to other things sure it's moving around.
- layer8 5y agoMaybe it’s zero relative to the earth-moon center of mass, and/or the rotation simply isn’t that exact for the relative speed to be zero.
- ur-whale 5y agoI always find mentions of "speed" of spaceships in the press very strange: they never specify the reference frame.
- Maxburn 5y agoRight? Sitting still we are 1,037 mph at the equator. And then you can consider relative to our sun, or galactic core, etc. https://www.space.com/33527-how-fast-is-earth-moving.html https://www.space.com/33527-how-fast-is-earth-moving.html