The unfolding JSWT ballet on the way to the L2 Lagrange Point

 

The James Webb Space Telescope fully deployed - Credit NASA- Goddard Space Flight Centre

The James Webb Space Telescope is fully deployed and 80% of its way to insertion into orbit at the L2 Lagrange Point. Well done everyone involved, what a fantastic engineering achievement!

The unfolding of the JSWT's structural elements, sunshield and segmented mirrors is truly balletic.

Follow the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzGLKQ7_KZQ

First Light 2022 (Choice of beaks)

 

Orion over the Visitor Centre at Carlton Marshes, Lowestoft.

Orion over St. Michael's Church, Oulton Broad.

Orion over the LVST Yagi aerial at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

" The weather over Lowestoft on the 3rd of January provided some crisp widefield views of the constellation Orion. After a long period of moonlight, Christmas lights and poor weather, Pip Stakkert could not contain his enthusiasm for going imaging in 2022., As soon as it became dark, he set up the the Canon 600d camera with the EX Sigma 10-20 zoom lens, on the Star-adventurer equatorial mount. The sky was imaged at f=17mm. 20x3minute light frames at ISO800 were stacked using Sequator freeware. The foreground images at Carlton Marsh and St Michael's Church were taken by our sponsors Anita and George Roberts on location and in daylight with the same camera set up and using a compass to ensure correct alignment. Nowadays, A and G are not allowed out on their own after dark (ah bless!). Pip then used our newly acquired Affinity Photo software plus all our usual photo editing favourites, to merge the sky and foreground images. We are all impressed by the power of Affinity Photo to bring out astronomical detail and Pip will be hoping to improve his skills in using this splendid new resource. The recent Masterclass articles by Nik Szymanek in Astronomy Now and Dave Eagle's 'Guide to Affinity Photo Astrophotography Image Processing' are on the Jodrell Plank Observatory library shelf and are recommended reading for all budding astro-imaging Affinity Photo users". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Bon Voyage James

 

The James Webb Telescope on it's way! - image Credit NASA Bill Ingalls

Bon Voyage to the James Webb Telescope on its way from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana on Christmas Day 2021. - Kurt Thrust and the Jodrell Plank Observatory Team.

"With revolutionary technology, Webb will observe a part of space and time never seen before, providing a wealth of amazing views into an era when the very first stars and galaxies formed––over 13.5 billion years ago.

It can explore our own solar system’s residents with exquisite new detail and study the atmospheres of distant worlds. From new forming stars to devouring black holes, Webb will reveal all this and more! It’s the world’s largest and most powerful space telescope ever built.

Webb is an international collaboration between NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), and CSA (Canadian Space Agency). Thousands of engineers and hundreds of scientists worked to make Webb a reality, along with over 300 universities, organizations, and companies from 29 U.S. states and 14 countries! "

Ready to #UnfoldTheUniverse? The greatest origin story of all unfurls soon. Learn more at https://nasa.gov/jwst

Credit: NASA

" We should not forget some of NASA's older explorers like the Curiosity Mars Rover which has spent more than 3000 sols on the surface of Mars doing great Science" - Joel Cairo CEO at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

 

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover used its black-and-white navigation cameras to capture panoramas of this scene at two times of day. This was the view at 8:30 a.m. local Mars time on Nov. 16, 2021 (the 3,299th Martian day, or sol, of the mission) and again at 4:10 p.m. local Mars time. The two times of day provided contrasting lighting conditions that brought out a variety of landscape details.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

A Merry Stargazing Christmas 2021

 

A Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all our world wide blog readers and stargazers.

Storm Arwen keeping the Jodrell Plank Team indoors

 

The Constellation Orion the Hunter commanding our southern horizon in the winter sky over the Jodrell Plank Observatory

" The Observatory came through Storm Arwen without damage but the weather in Lowestoft continues to prevent any serious imaging. Having time on his hands, Pip Stakkert decided to use the newly acquired software to reprocess data captured in January 2020. The above image is a composite made from data acquired using our Canon 600 DSLR at both f=18mm and f= 400mm. The Orion Great Molecular Cloud is clearly visible with the Running Man Nebular just above. Blog readers with exceptional eyesight might just be able to make out the dark Horsehead Nebula underneath Alnitak the left hand star in Orion's Belt. Let us hope the weather improves over Christmas". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

The Andromeda Galaxy Group (our galactic neighbours)

 

The Andromeda Galaxy Group compilation location image created from images captured by Pip Stakkert at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

" The Andromeda group of galaxies located just above the 'Square of Pegasus' rides high in the sky over the Jodrell Plank Observatory in November. When the street lighting goes out at 23.30 hours it is just possible to make out Messier 31, the largest of the three galaxies, with the naked unaided eye". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Messier 31 Messier 32 and Messier 110 Galaxies - a cropped stack of 60 sec lights at ISO800 taken with the Altair Astro 66mm doublet refractor with a 0.6x focal reducer and field flattener and the Canon 600d camera all on a Star Adventurer equatorial mount. Credit: Kurt Thrust

Europa up close

 

Jupiter's Moon Europa credit for data :JUNO spacecraft NASA / SwRI / MSSS. Data reduction by Pip Stakkert at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

"As our telescopes, Jupiter's low inclination and the weather preclude us imaging Jupiter's Galilean Moons other than as tiny discs, we decided to download data from NASA's JUNO spacecraft to create this rather beautiful picture of the Ice Moon Europa". - Kurt Thrust current Director of the Jodrell Plank Observatory. 

The Icy Crust of Europa Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Arizona

"Europa presents an icy surface with a disrupted crust which betrays constant movement. Similar broken and rafted ice terrains may be found on Earth where sea ice forms on top of a subsurface ocean. It is considered very likely that underneath Europa's surface there lies a deep and planet wide ocean. The Hubble Telescope has detected intermittent plumes which appear to be associated with warmer areas on the surface of Europa. If this is the case then this might indicate water vapour venting from fissures in the icy crust. Europa is a possible candidate for harbouring microbial life". - Karl Seguine Community Outreach Coordinator at the Jodrell Plank Observatory.

Plume erupting from Europa, March 17, 2014. Credit: NASA, ESA, W. Sparks (STScI), and the USGS Astrogeology Science Center

Compilation image to show JUNO in orbit around Jupiter Credit: Pip Stakkert