James Webb Space Telescope (2 Viewers)

[DaveXA]

This is something that I've wondered about

I'm sure galaxies colliding/merging is a very slow process, but if it was happening right now, how would we here on Earth perceive it?

Just the stars being different or other effects?

I'd percieve it as "well, it was nice knowing ya, see ya on the other side!".

 

[Bleu Raeder]

We won't be around when it happens, but if we were, it takes the Milky Way something like 200 million years to spin one time. Assumining we were on the outside edge of the collision, it would take a long time for us to see the effects or be in danger. But, like Tapxe mentioned, we won't be around when that happens.

There is so much space between the stars that actual collisions would be rare until each of the galactic centers were really close to each other. Gravitational forces would likely send some stars spinning out of the combined galaxies to wander until they encountered another gravitational force strong enough to draw them in. The amount of space between large objects in the universe is astounding.

 

[Crzycjunx76]

LIterally everything about the

universe is astounding.

The scale and scope of it all is beyond comprehension.

 

[DJ1BigTymer]

This is something that I've wondered about

I'm sure galaxies colliding/merging is a very slow process, but if it was happening right now, how would we here on Earth perceive it?

Just the stars being different or other effects?

The Earth would be, more than likely, a barren rock rock when the Milky Way collides with another galaxy. Hell, Europa would probably be the most habituated planet in our solar system by then.

 

[bonnjer]

The light from these galaxies that are 13 billion light years away traveled to us in a straight line, not blocked by other things. With the number of galaxies in just these few pictures, which is a tiny speck of the universe, the amount of open space is mind boggling.

 

[antipop]

 

[Sailorsaint]

The light from these galaxies that are 13 billion light years away traveled to us in a straight line, not blocked by other things. With the number of galaxies in just these few pictures, which is a tiny speck of the universe, the amount of open space is mind boggling.

There is probably more empty space in between galaxies than there are galaxies. And there are billions of galaxies. The visible to the naked eye night sky has more stars than grains of sand on all the beaches....and that's just what we can see with the naked eye.

 

[Madmarsha]

*sigh*

this is why we can't have nice things

Webb telescope suffered ‘uncorrectable damage’ in micrometeoroid hit, NASA report says

A micrometeoroid caused “significant uncorrectable damage” to NASA’s $10 billion James Webb Telescope, a new report explains.

thehill.com

WHAT? That's like wrecking your new car 1 mile after driving it off the lot.

 

[Madmarsha]

Since I'm now all cultured and shirt from going to the immersive Van Gogh Experience, dis my new phone wallpaper .

 

[Scorpius the Allfather]

So it supposedly suffered significant uncorrectable damage and yet "Despite this, Webb’s team has determined the overall impact on the telescope is small. Engineers were able to realign Webb’s segments to adjust for the micrometeoroid’s damage." So how significant was it?

 

[Sailorsaint]

So it supposedly suffered significant uncorrectable damage and yet "Despite this, Webb’s team has determined the overall impact on the telescope is small. Engineers were able to realign Webb’s segments to adjust for the micrometeoroid’s damage." So how significant was it?

I think it only damaged one of the mirrors. They were probably able to compensate for it. I'm sure it degrades it capabilities a bit, but not sure how much. Instead of reading a license plate, we can probably on get a look at the city as a whole, typ of damage.

 

[gummbo70114]

WHAT? That's like wrecking your new car 1 mile after driving it off the lot.

This is gonna hurt the resale value

 

[Grumpy Old Manatee]

This news makes me upset. I know it's a harsh environment and we aren't really able to control things, but dang. At least give us a little time to get some good data. Unfortunately, this is something we'll have to deal with until we can invent Star Trek style shields.

Can’t we just send a couple of Celestial Mechanics to fix it? Hopefully NASA extended their new telescope warranty.

 

[Big_L]

Can’t we just send a couple of Celestial Mechanics to fix it? Hopefully NASA extended their new telescope warranty.

I'm sure the callers from India have inquired several times already.

 

[GrandAdmiral]

We won't be around when it happens, but if we were, it takes the Milky Way something like 200 million years to spin one time. Assumining we were on the outside edge of the collision, it would take a long time for us to see the effects or be in danger. But, like Tapxe mentioned, we won't be around when that happens.

Yeah. I can't remember where I saw it, but whoever it was (might've been NDT), he said that if the Earth somehow survived the Sun's implosion to see the Milky Way merge, it would have little to no effect on the planet/solar system/etc. due to the vast amount of space between each celestial entity.