8 Photos From JWST That Will Make You Question Life

“Seriously though, Uranus is breathtaking” - Joe Scott, 2023 Edit: Thx for the likes !! 😅

Joe is an absolute man of culture for not being afraid to pronounce "Uranus" in the "classy" way.

I know the visible-light spectrum photos wouldn't be as interesting as the false color ones, but it would be nice to see both side-by-side sometimes.

I had the chance to see it in person just after it was fully assembled. It’s a lot bigger than you imagine and an incredible testament to what humanity can achieve.

Now witness the resolving power of this fully calibrated and operational space telescope.

I was a Test Engineer and I developed the test system for the Fine Guidance System working as a sub contractor for the Canadian Space Agency (who was partnered with NASA and responsible for the FGS). My role was to develop the tests for the mechanical side of the FGS -- we had a 'mock up' of the spacecraft's electrical interface that would send commands to the stepper motors and stuff. One of the coolest programs I ever worked on. All the engineers were really worried about this thing working in space. Once at L2, there is no way to repair it... not like the Hubble where they could send the shuttle up to install a repair.

Seeing the reactions of scientists and NASA and such when the JWST launched was incredible. It was like seeing those scientists turn into the biggest of kids again.

Small correction, but we have directly imaged planets before Webb. The earliest ones were brown dwarfs or brown dwarf candidates back in 2004, but in 2008, the W.M. Keck Observatory watched the orbits of 3 super Jupiter's. Another interesting fact is the the Nancy Grace Roman telescope is supposed to improve direct imaging even further, allowing us to spot older Jupiter sized planets orbiting about as far from its star as Jupiter orbits the Sun (most targets are young super Jupiter's, so they have leftover heat allowing them to be spotted more easily).

can you throw james webb birthday partys and do this every year?

I think we can agree Dr. Becky is always our favorite Joe Scott guest :) 1:01

I had mine open even before it launched, plus there were hundreds of possible failure points after the launch. It was nerve-wracking watching it accomplish them one at a time. It was amazing seeing it get to L2 without fail.

Gotta love how you never miss a Uranus joke. It inspires both the dad and the 5 year old in me.

Joe, your channel is the only one that i watch every second of content released. Never stop never stopping Joe. You rock.

You should do a video on the the convergent evolution within the adaptive radiation of African lake Cichlids. Three lakes all have the same fish based in looks but all come from different common ancestors. One fish gave rise to 100s of species in the first lake. Then one of those fish got into a second lake and gave rise independently to the 100s of the same looking fish but are technically new species. Then one of those fish moved to a third lake and gave rise to 100s of more species that look the exact same as the fish from the first two lakes. Then so forth and so forth for 5 more lakes. Each fish is more closely related to the fish in its own lake even though they look so identical to the fish from the other lakes that they were thought to be the same species until we had the ability to run phylogenetic testing on them. It’s wild example of the power of convergent evolution within a rapid adaptive radiation Speciation event!!!! I work directly with the leading professor in the field. I can get you an interview!!!

Joe, Thanks. Thanks for your continued effort to bring quality content - with clarity.

My dude, even time you do a video on Uranus, and I'm sorry to say this, the jokes are the best. I never get tired of your delivery. And the videos are spaced far enough apart where it never gets dull. I look forward to these particular gems every time you do a solar system video. ❤

"But still a direct image of an exoplanet had never been done before" star HR 8799 had its exoplanets imaged from 2009 - 2016. But the Just Wonderful Space Telescope is just that! Thanks Joe.

I'm with you Joe. I was clenching my, um lets say teeth for all the single points of failure wrt the JWST in its first weeks/months. Then to see not only did they stick the "landing" at L2 (with fuel to spare) and all ~170 pins allowed the heat shield/s to unfold... :)

Great video. I too was following its progress throughout its whole journey. I found myself surprisingly emotional watching the launch. I can't wait to see some of those future projects.

Thank you for sharing your passion and talent with us. Keep up the fantastic work! (Also the visuals are amazing)