The James Webb Space Telescope Launch

"For if we had any sense, what else should we do, both in public and in private, than sing hymns and praise the deity, and recount all the favors that he has conferred!" - Epictetus

This morning I watched the Christmas Day launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.  If the thing successfully gets to the intended position in space (Earth's L2 orbit) and deploys properly, it should be every bit as important to infrared observing as the Hubble Telescope was to visible light.

I've also watched a few SpaceX launches recently, and maybe I'm old and out of touch, but I find the announcers *incredibly* annoying.  Can you please just narrate the launch without all the breathless excitement and waving of hands?  This video feed, by the way, was what the NASA web page linked to.

 I miss the old days, back when a sense of dignity wasn't in such short supply.  Below is the launch of the first manned moon mission.  This was a far more momentous occasion for mankind, but they didn't feel any need to go full-on fanboy about it.  These announcers are not Walter Cronkite - nobody is.  I just wish that they would drop the hyperventilating.  Maybe it's a millennial thing, or an e-celeb thing.  Whatever it is, I'm not a fan. 

There is a cool web page to track the progress of the Webb telescope as it makes its way to the L2 point.  The link to that page is here.  The link will only be good for a month.

EDIT:  It occurred to me that a lot of people may not know what the L2 point is.  L2 is the second Lagrange point.  There are five points in the overall earth-sun orbit, where a third object can remain in a stable orbit.  These five points are called the Lagrange points.  L2 is ideal for infrared astronomy, as this point is furthest from the sun.  The telescope will not be in earth's shadow - it has its own sun shade for that purpose, but it will be using the furthest Lagrange point for a stable position and the best sensitivity, away from the biggest infrared source in our solar system.

More importantly than all that cool stuff though... Merry Christmas!  Let's try and remember why we celebrate it:)