You have hit the nail on the head. The problem is, it is so easy to score cheap political points by complaining about government. Even my Mom reflexively trashes the post office and the DMV, although the post office was very reliable before DeJoy and our local DMV is incredibly efficient and customer centric.
"Some have called these early images “baby pictures”, which is a great way to make one of humanity’s awe-inspiring achievements seem trite and uninteresting. "
These "baby pictures" will be the most instagrammed, shared, and memed posts among astronomers and astrophysicists. Sure, the comments will be obscure like the most technical xkcd comic, but who can resist a baby pic? Awwwwwwwww, look at the cute little nebula.
This article in Quanta, which took me several attempts to fully read through, is an excellent, detailed exposition of the history of the JWST and its predecessors.
My summary: The next telescope should be named for Barbara Mikulski, who is a total frikkin' hero for having saved Hubble and ensuring that the JWST got to the launch stage.
"...the Canadian Space Agency, which is providing soda and snacks for the launch."
Listen dude. As a Canadian I totally resent this. Up here it's called Pop.
You have hit the nail on the head. The problem is, it is so easy to score cheap political points by complaining about government. Even my Mom reflexively trashes the post office and the DMV, although the post office was very reliable before DeJoy and our local DMV is incredibly efficient and customer centric.
"Some have called these early images “baby pictures”, which is a great way to make one of humanity’s awe-inspiring achievements seem trite and uninteresting. "
These "baby pictures" will be the most instagrammed, shared, and memed posts among astronomers and astrophysicists. Sure, the comments will be obscure like the most technical xkcd comic, but who can resist a baby pic? Awwwwwwwww, look at the cute little nebula.
This article in Quanta, which took me several attempts to fully read through, is an excellent, detailed exposition of the history of the JWST and its predecessors.
https://www.quantamagazine.org/why-nasas-james-webb-space-telescope-matters-so-much-20211203/
My summary: The next telescope should be named for Barbara Mikulski, who is a total frikkin' hero for having saved Hubble and ensuring that the JWST got to the launch stage.
Just want to report that my dad brought this up at Christmas, and I shocked everyone by knowing all about it thanks to this article. 👍🏻
I hate the Gov. Eliot Spitzer Space Telescope so much! I hate it even more than the Herschel Walker Space Observatory.