JWST's Iconic Primary Mirror.
Credit: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, CC BY 2.0
Three days ago on Monday 24th January 2022 at 19:00GMT, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) arrived at L2: the location where observations of Outer Space will take place.
This means we've got a whole six months to wait until everything's calibrated and ready to take the first images (aka JWST's first light). So, what is there to do until then (well, apart from work, exams and other life events)? Here is a list of resources/activities for you to peruse/complete at your leisure so you can be fully briefed and ready for the day (some time in July/August):
An event organised by ESA on YouTube/Facebook to teach you more about JWST (happens on Thursday 3rd February at 2-3pm (GMT)) though questions to be answered live are needed by 31st January at 4pm
A NASA Eyes visualisation of where JWST is
A webb page (see what I did there!) explaining what's happening with the JWST at the moment
A list of deployments of JWST with videos and photos related to the events (you can scroll through the list on a bar at the top)
An article I wrote explaining the ins and outs of the JWST (with lots of other useful links at the end for you to investigate)
Take a photo of some artwork you have created which is what you believe images from JWST will look like (deadline is when the first images from JWST come in) and post them on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram with the hashtag 'UnfoldTheUniverse'
View Webb's factsheet to get a brief overview of what the mission is all about
Make an origami version of JWST's iconic mirror
Create a bookmark representing the lifecycle of a massive star: something Webb will observe once it's up and running
Play a quiz by NASA teaching you all about the different types of telescope and what makes each so unique
If you find any other fantastic resources that you think would also sit well on this list, then please share them with me so I can publish them on this page! Use the email address: "webmaster.adas@gmail.com".
by George Abraham, ADAS member