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Author Topic:   Coffee House Musing
AZPaul3
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Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


(4)
Message 237 of 380 (892886)
03-17-2022 2:50 AM


Sharper Focus
Remember this? JWST took a selfie during a lens adjustment.
Then there was this. The same target star on each mirror.
Now there is this.
That same target star focused on all mirrors. That is a bright target star. Better yet, the scope isn’t even finished its finest calibrations and in the test image we can see galaxies in the background.
A couple more months of cool down and JWST will be at operating temperature. Then the science begins.
This scope is going to be fun.
Edited by AZPaul3, : better pic

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

Replies to this message:
 Message 238 by vimesey, posted 03-17-2022 6:02 AM AZPaul3 has replied

  
AZPaul3
Member
Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


(1)
Message 239 of 380 (892888)
03-17-2022 6:52 AM
Reply to: Message 238 by vimesey
03-17-2022 6:02 AM


Re: Sharper Focus
Science is Elpis.
I thought I remembered her but not until I looked it up. Good show.

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 238 by vimesey, posted 03-17-2022 6:02 AM vimesey has not replied

  
AZPaul3
Member
Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


(3)
Message 240 of 380 (892907)
03-18-2022 10:32 AM


RNA World
My personal favorite has always been RNA World. From the rock surface disposition models that form RNA molecules to RNA found to catalyze its own replication, RNA World has been a very hopeful playground for abiogenesis.
Now we have an RNA molecule that replicates, evolves through natural selection and … cooperates with its evolved forms to balance resources for further replication.
Say what?
Scientists Create RNA That Evolves on Its Own. This Could Be How Life on Earth Started : ScienceAlert
quote:
"We found that the single RNA species evolved into a complex replication system: a replicator network comprising five types of RNAs with diverse interactions, supporting the plausibility of a long-envisioned evolutionary transition scenario," says evolutionary biologist Ryo Mizuuchi.
Their experiment used cloned lengths of RNA in water droplets suspended in oil which underwent more than a hundred rounds of replication, with each round being tested and analyzed.
So totally isolated, just a drop of water isolated in a lipid envelope and some cloned snippets of an RNA strand. OK, the RNA was specifically created for self-catalyzation but we’ve been making those for decades now and it is still just dead chemistry, right?
This one not just replicated but evolved enhanced copies of itself. Then this “community” of snippets of dead chemistry shared the process of replicating more of each type. These things had organized to such an extent that if the snippets of one of the RNA types is removed the other 4 types in the mix stop replicating and … sit there ... like lifeless chemicals.
We’re getting close to cracking this nut.
Maybe next we can go find god and make him do lab tricks for us.

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

  
AZPaul3
Member
Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 247 of 380 (893438)
04-13-2022 11:45 AM
Reply to: Message 244 by jar
04-13-2022 10:17 AM


You have become our heat sink.
Here in the Valley of the Sun, mid-April, hovering just above 90°F the last two weeks, now, today, we aren't predicted to hit 75. And this is going to go on another couple days. Hope you can put up with our heat, and, btw, thank you. These next few days are going to be a return to perfect Phoenix winter splendor.
Edited by AZPaul3, : No reason given.

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 244 by jar, posted 04-13-2022 10:17 AM jar has replied

Replies to this message:
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AZPaul3
Member
Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


(3)
Message 252 of 380 (893783)
04-19-2022 10:24 PM
Reply to: Message 251 by Tanypteryx
04-19-2022 9:53 PM


Re: Hubble is 32 Years Old
My dad insisted, before it was launched, that Hubble would be a 10 orders of magnitude increase in our seeing power and a 100 orders of magnitude increase in our knowledge. JWST should be the same.
Edited by AZPaul3, : No reason given.

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

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AZPaul3
Member
Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


(3)
Message 254 of 380 (893789)
04-20-2022 10:40 AM


Happy Holiday!
Enjoy the day.

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

Replies to this message:
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AZPaul3
Member
Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 262 of 380 (893864)
04-21-2022 3:22 PM
Reply to: Message 261 by Omnivorous
04-21-2022 2:56 PM


Re: Happy Holiday!
When laws proscribe my victimless will to pleasure, I ignore them.
You unchristian heathen. In this country, this Christian society, we obey the laws. The Second Amendment and the Book of Leviticus. In that order.

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 261 by Omnivorous, posted 04-21-2022 2:56 PM Omnivorous has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 263 by Omnivorous, posted 04-21-2022 5:42 PM AZPaul3 has replied
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AZPaul3
Member
Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


(1)
Message 264 of 380 (893873)
04-21-2022 6:07 PM
Reply to: Message 263 by Omnivorous
04-21-2022 5:42 PM


Re: Happy Holiday!
Yeah, there ... like in their heads where nothing will interfere with the ricochet in the vacuum.

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 263 by Omnivorous, posted 04-21-2022 5:42 PM Omnivorous has not replied

  
AZPaul3
Member
Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


Message 269 of 380 (893886)
04-21-2022 11:21 PM


Ritual.
You guys are really into this thing.
I have rolled fewer joints than I can count on two hands and one shoe off. Friends did the honors. I used hookahs and pipes. I had a big hookah with 3 tubes. That was fun. Lost it in the divorce. These days my only apparatus are two battery units for my store bought vape cartridges. I load them one sativa one indica.
My complete ritual now involves picking up my vape, taking a hit or two or three and putting it back next to her sister in their prominent place on my desk. Available 24/7. No vacuum pumps, chambers, solvents, glassware, gas chromatographs or any other type of advanced lab equipment. I’m thinking you guys are having more fun with this than I am.
And, Tany, your bug populations are crashing the world over. I knew about the north american crash of bugs and birds but hadn't seen the global stuff.
This is bad.
https://phys.org/...e-triggering-global-collapse-insect.html
Edited by AZPaul3, : Bug stuff

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

Replies to this message:
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AZPaul3
Member
Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


(1)
Message 271 of 380 (893890)
04-22-2022 9:24 AM


Webb: A Few More Weeks
https://phys.org/news/2022-04-webb-temperature.html
JWST is in position and is almost ready for real work. The almost part is the final temperature and alignment of the mirrors.
JWST sees in the infrared spectrum for science reasons. To keep the scope itself from emitting excess infrared signals JWST needs to be very cold. All the instruments and optics have been brought to their operating temperature. MIRI, the mid-range infrared detector, the major capability the JWST was built to see, has been cooled to under 7 K. But the mirrors are still too hot.
One of JWST's goals is to capture the light that was emitted in the very early universe, 13.8 billion years ago. That light has stretched so far into the infrared that the heat emitted by the instrument itself will overwhelm the desired signal if not cooled down enough.
quote:
Currently, four of the 18 mirror segments are above 50 Kelvin: at 52.6, 54.2, 54.4, and 54.5. These four mirror segments emit some mid-infrared light that reaches the MIRI detectors. Since all the mirror temperatures are now below 55 Kelvin, it is expected that MIRI will be sensitive enough to perform its planned science, but any additional cooling of these mirrors will only enhance its performance. The Webb team hopes to see the mirrors cool by an additional 0.5 to 2 Kelvin.
Beryllium, from which the mirrors are made, cools very slowly. Photons need to be shed by passive means alone. The last few kelvin bleeding off the mirrors will take a few more weeks to come down to optimal temperature.
Patience, grasshopper. Almost there.
Edited by AZPaul3, : No reason given.

Edited by AZPaul3, : No reason given.


Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

  
AZPaul3
Member
Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


(4)
Message 275 of 380 (894222)
05-07-2022 10:09 AM


JWST Commissioning
As heat continues to bleed off the scope the instruments and adjustments are in the final stages of test and alignment. This article gives us an idea of the complexity of the instruments and the sensitivity of their readings.
Examining the heart of Webb: The final phase of commissioning
"The astrometric calibration of each instrument maps the pixels on the detectors to the precise locations on the sky, to correct the small but unavoidable optical distortions that are present in every optical system. We do this by observing the Webb astrometric field, a small patch of sky in a nearby galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud. This field was observed by the Hubble Space Telescope to establish the coordinates of about 200,000 stars to an accuracy of 1 milli-arcsec (less than 0.3 millionths of a degree). Calibrating this distortion is required to precisely place the science targets on the instruments' field of view. For example, to get the spectra of a hundred galaxies simultaneously using the NIRSpec microshutter assembly, the telescope must be pointed so that each galaxy is in the proper shutter, and there are a quarter of a million shutters!
And this is an example of just one of JWST's capabilities.
The details of the commissioning are as fascinating as they are complex. JWST is much more highly complex than most people realize. It's not just a swiss army knife unfolding in space, it is more a fine swiss watch with 20 stems on it for ultrafine adjustments.
The promise of detailed knowledge from this thing is staggering.

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

  
AZPaul3
Member
Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


(1)
Message 277 of 380 (894270)
05-09-2022 6:46 PM
Reply to: Message 276 by xongsmith
05-09-2022 4:07 PM


Re: Perserverance gets Martian eclipse
Ha! My moon is bigger than your moon. Take that god of war!

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

This message is a reply to:
 Message 276 by xongsmith, posted 05-09-2022 4:07 PM xongsmith has seen this message but not replied

  
AZPaul3
Member
Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


(1)
Message 285 of 380 (895146)
06-08-2022 7:09 PM


July 12
NASA says JWST will release its first full spectrum pics on July 12. These are still test pics, and the buzz is these are going to be exceptional, but this is the last of them. Everything after that is for the science.
And it's been hit by a small boulder. Everyone says that is minor and not unexpected and they even call it a micrometeoroid. It's a damn boulder.
Ok, they are the smart guys, but the scope hasn't been up there all that long and it's already got a ding? That probability spread seems a little front loaded to me. This thing is supposed to last forever, give or take 15 years. That is the existential dread I fear most for this scope and I cringe everytime I think of it.
James Webb Space Telescope suffers 1st noticeable micrometeoroid impact just months into flight

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

  
AZPaul3
Member
Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


(2)
Message 286 of 380 (895255)
06-18-2022 3:54 PM


JWST Update
JWST is still testing, still calibrating, now into the finest most sensitive instruments, the spectrometers.
If you're geeky about these things, the optics divisions, spectrographic sensitivity, accurately aligning the wave fronts of target frequencies, are real rabbit holes to enjoy. That whole machine is amazing and the spectroscopy is better than a lot of advanced ground scopes.
Cycle 1 observations are still scheduled to be taken mid-July with the release of NASA's last batch of commissioning test images on July 12.
Webb's mid-infrared spectroscopy will reveal molecules, elements

Edited by AZPaul3, .


Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

  
AZPaul3
Member
Posts: 8513
From: Phoenix
Joined: 11-06-2006
Member Rating: 5.3


(1)
Message 287 of 380 (895518)
07-05-2022 1:04 AM


LHC To Create Rift In Time
LHC Run 3: physics at record energy starts tomorrow
The new run will be 4 years of contunuous proton smashing at 13.6 TeV.
That's a lot. It is twice the old run's power.
Higgs and higgs-like particles, supersymmetry particles, dark matter particles and so much more. Even, maybe, some mini-black holes that will form an interdimensional portal that will eat a large portion of reality before they collapse back into the background.
So, over the next 4 years, if you wake up and see that reality has stopped and everything is wrong then turn over, snooze a few minutes, and look again. If there is only void and you don't exist anymore then it was the LHC. If reality is still all screwed up and getting worse then it's your meds.

Stop Tzar Vladimir the Condemned!

Replies to this message:
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