4 ms·

Are the plans for the future use of the telescope public?

Aperocky 4y ago
Depend on what you mean by public, if made publicly available to universities after claims and research proposals, great. General public is probably a bad idea and waste of resources.
- dhritzkiv 4y ago
  I think the parent poster meant is there a timeline/roadmap of future milestones/missions that are publicly available
- wumpus 4y ago
  The general public can submit an observation proposal, which will then have to compete with all of the other proposals in peer review.
zaarn 4y ago
NASA generally publishes the telescope time allocations to my knowledge, you can atleast find the allocations for the next year already on the internet.
Cerium 4y ago
Yes, you can see the observing schedule and a list of approved programs: https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/science-execution/observing-schedules https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/science-execution/observing-sched... https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/science-execution/approved-programs https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/science-execution/approved-progra...
dylan604 4y ago
The plans are to view things in space. Is that not publicly known? But in seriousness, if the observation schedule is going to be listed publicly, I'd imagine it would be on the Space Telescope Science Institute's website as they are in charge of the telescope's usage. https://www.stsci.edu/jwst https://www.stsci.edu/jwst
_joel 4y ago
Yes, they plan the year in advance. All submissions for time are based on anonymous proposals too so there's no bias in selection, plus they're open to the public so amateur astronomers that have the skill to be able to write such a proposal, can get time on it, just the same as any other instituion.
- ISL 4y ago
  I'd encourage those with the skill to do so to apply for telescope time. A friend of mine, with no prior observational experience, had a good idea for a Chandra observation, applied in partnership with an astronomer, and got the time necessary to make the measurement. It really does happen. Things like a Sagan 'pale blue dot' image would be a longer shot, but astronomers are humans, too -- if there's a very cool and human idea out there, the committees might be receptive there. (i.e., catching the glint of light off a Mars Observer solar panel or some such thing).
  - ars 4y ago
    Is it capable of seeing Pioneer, or is that way too small?
    - ISL 4y ago
      My guess is that it is too small, but the RTG is warm.... :).
    - zanesterling 4y ago
      Sadly seems like it's way too small. Pioneer 10 is ~2.9m long [1] and 2.0e7 km from Earth [2]. JWST is just 1.5e6 km from Earth, so that doesn't make much of a difference. Doing the trig, you get the arc-width of P10 is 2atan(w/2d) = 2atan(2.9m/4.0e7km) = 7.33e-14 rad. JWST has a resolution of 0.1 arcsecond = 4.8e-7 rad [3]. So we're off by "just" a factor of 10,000,000 on resolution :-( It's too bad, that would be so cool. [1] https://www.space.com/17651-pioneer-10.html#:~:text=This%20spacecraft%2C%20powered%20by%20four,570%20pounds%20(258%20kilograms) https://www.space.com/17651-pioneer-10.html#:~:text=This%20s.... [2] https://theskylive.com/how-far-is-pioneer10#:~:text=The%20distance%20of%20Pioneer%2010,equivalent%20to%20132.216479%20Astronomical%20Units https://theskylive.com/how-far-is-pioneer10#:~:text=The%20di.... [3] https://www.spaceanswers.com/astronomy/ten-reasons-why-nasas-james-webb-space-telescope-will-kick-some-cosmic-butt/ https://www.spaceanswers.com/astronomy/ten-reasons-why-nasas...

Depend on what you mean by public, if made publicly available to universities after claims and research proposals, great. General public is probably a bad idea and waste of resources.

dhritzkiv 4y ago
I think the parent poster meant is there a timeline/roadmap of future milestones/missions that are publicly available
wumpus 4y ago
The general public can submit an observation proposal, which will then have to compete with all of the other proposals in peer review.

zaarn 4y ago

NASA generally publishes the telescope time allocations to my knowledge, you can atleast find the allocations for the next year already on the internet.

Cerium 4y ago

Yes, you can see the observing schedule and a list of approved programs: https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/science-execution/observing-schedules https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/science-execution/observing-sched... https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/science-execution/approved-programs https://www.stsci.edu/jwst/science-execution/approved-progra...

dylan604 4y ago

The plans are to view things in space. Is that not publicly known? But in seriousness, if the observation schedule is going to be listed publicly, I'd imagine it would be on the Space Telescope Science Institute's website as they are in charge of the telescope's usage. https://www.stsci.edu/jwst https://www.stsci.edu/jwst

_joel 4y ago

Yes, they plan the year in advance. All submissions for time are based on anonymous proposals too so there's no bias in selection, plus they're open to the public so amateur astronomers that have the skill to be able to write such a proposal, can get time on it, just the same as any other instituion.

ISL 4y ago
I'd encourage those with the skill to do so to apply for telescope time. A friend of mine, with no prior observational experience, had a good idea for a Chandra observation, applied in partnership with an astronomer, and got the time necessary to make the measurement. It really does happen. Things like a Sagan 'pale blue dot' image would be a longer shot, but astronomers are humans, too -- if there's a very cool and human idea out there, the committees might be receptive there. (i.e., catching the glint of light off a Mars Observer solar panel or some such thing).
- ars 4y ago
  Is it capable of seeing Pioneer, or is that way too small?
  - ISL 4y ago
    My guess is that it is too small, but the RTG is warm.... :).
  - zanesterling 4y ago
    Sadly seems like it's way too small. Pioneer 10 is ~2.9m long [1] and 2.0e7 km from Earth [2]. JWST is just 1.5e6 km from Earth, so that doesn't make much of a difference. Doing the trig, you get the arc-width of P10 is 2atan(w/2d) = 2atan(2.9m/4.0e7km) = 7.33e-14 rad. JWST has a resolution of 0.1 arcsecond = 4.8e-7 rad [3]. So we're off by "just" a factor of 10,000,000 on resolution :-( It's too bad, that would be so cool. [1] https://www.space.com/17651-pioneer-10.html#:~:text=This%20spacecraft%2C%20powered%20by%20four,570%20pounds%20(258%20kilograms) https://www.space.com/17651-pioneer-10.html#:~:text=This%20s.... [2] https://theskylive.com/how-far-is-pioneer10#:~:text=The%20distance%20of%20Pioneer%2010,equivalent%20to%20132.216479%20Astronomical%20Units https://theskylive.com/how-far-is-pioneer10#:~:text=The%20di.... [3] https://www.spaceanswers.com/astronomy/ten-reasons-why-nasas-james-webb-space-telescope-will-kick-some-cosmic-butt/ https://www.spaceanswers.com/astronomy/ten-reasons-why-nasas...