I'd been disappointed that it-- or really anything about the alignment procedures-- weren't covered by any of the public facing webb materials, I learned about it by reading the academic publications on the design.
Selfie mode just seemed like something with great public appeal potential, even for people without a lot of interest in the more technical details.
So I'm really excited to see this video!
I hope they put something up about the wavefront sensing.
So true, a good example being NYT: "The Webb astronomers will now spend the next few months wiggling each of those mirror segments back and forth and back and forth until that star becomes one." [1]. Wiggling :( Even a link to the process would have added much, those mirrors are a marvel [2]
2 comments
[ 2.9 ms ] story [ 18.0 ms ] threadI mentioned this capability in a HN comment a month ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29860357
I'd been disappointed that it-- or really anything about the alignment procedures-- weren't covered by any of the public facing webb materials, I learned about it by reading the academic publications on the design.
Selfie mode just seemed like something with great public appeal potential, even for people without a lot of interest in the more technical details.
So I'm really excited to see this video!
I hope they put something up about the wavefront sensing.
[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/11/science/webb-telescope-se... [2] https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/observatory/ote/mirrors/in...