* Astronomy

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RE: James Webb Space Telescope

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Northrop Grumman's Full-Scale Model of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope On Display At Deutsches Museum in Munich, Germany
Northrop Grumman Corporation's full-scale model of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope resumes its world tour with a stop in Munich, Germany. The model will be on display Oct. 13-28 at the Deutsches Museum, courtesy of NASA Goddard Space Flight Centre and EADS Astrium Aerospace GmbH. This special viewing occurs in conjunction with the James Webb Space Telescope Partners' Workshop being held in Munich, Oct. 13-17.

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James Webb Telescope components pass tests
You might think that shaking and freezing a state-of-the-art, meticulously crafted machine is a bad idea. But when it comes to firing telescopes and their instruments into the frigid cold of space, the more you test your hardware, the better.

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Title: Transiting Exoplanets with JWST
Authors: S. Seager (MIT), D. Deming (NASA/GSFC), J. A. Valenti (STScI)

The era of exoplanet characterisation is upon us. For a subset of exoplanets -- the transiting planets -- physical properties can be measured, including mass, radius, and atmosphere characteristics. Indeed, measuring the atmospheres of a further subset of transiting planets, the hot Jupiters, is now routine with the Spitzer Space Telescope. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will continue Spitzer's legacy with its large mirror size and precise thermal stability. JWST is poised for the significant achievement of identifying habitable planets around bright M through G stars--rocky planets lacking extensive gas envelopes, with water vapour and signs of chemical disequilibrium in their atmospheres. Favourable transiting planet systems, are, however, anticipated to be rare and their atmosphere observations will require tens to hundreds of hours of JWST time per planet. We review what is known about the physical characteristics of transiting planets, summarise lessons learned from Spitzer high-contrast exoplanet measurements, and give several examples of potential JWST observations.

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Lightweight optics star in Hubble's successor
Astronomers could soon be glimpsing farther back in time thanks to pioneering optics that are being built for the James Webb Space Telescope. Marie Freebody speaks to NASA's John Decker and Lee Feinberg to find out about the mirror and wavefront sensing technology.
When the multi-billion US dollar James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) launches in 2013, it will be a monumental day for all involved. Optical technologies that until recently did not exist will be used in space for the first time to gather infrared (IR) light from distant objects that have not yet been observed.
Among the suite of optical technologies is an innovative wavefront sensing and control (WFS&C) system and a primary mirror with a built-in support structure. But the scale of the mission means that it is rapidly approaching crunch time for researchers on the ground.

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Scientists and engineers have created and successfully tested a set of algorithms and software programs which are designed to enable the 19 individual mirrors comprising NASA's powerful James Webb Space Telescope to function as one very sensitive telescope.

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NASA and ESA sign agreement on the James Webb Space Telescope (Hubbles successor)
University of Leicester involved in building sophisticated space instrument
Representatives NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) signed an official agreement defining the terms of cooperation on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) at Le Bourget air show in Paris today (18th June). UK scientists have a lead role in the mission which will investigate the origin and evolution of galaxies, stars and planetary systems.
Due for launch in 2013, JWST, which is a mission of joint cooperation between NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), is optimised to operate over a wide range of wavelengths and is considered to be the scientific successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.

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Animation showing the planned location of JWST at L2.

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NASA is adding a docking ring to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) just in case a visit by astronauts aboard a future Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle is needed to complete deployment of the multibillion-dollar orbiting observatory. The U.S. space agency made the announcement May 10 during the unveiling of a full-scale model of the JWST on the National Mall here.

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Blobrana · L

A telescope's ability to collect light from distant objects is directly related to the size of its mirrors: the larger the mirror, the more light it can collect. So engineers at NASA Goddard Space Flight centre, Northrop Grumman, Ball Aerospace, SSG-L3 Tinsley and AXSYS Technologies have built an extremely large, lightweight cryogenic mirror. Its size will allow it to collect more light faster than previous telescopes and with better resolution. The giant mirror, which will be deployed on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), will revolutionize the studies of how stars and planetary systems form and evolve.

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