Astronomy Picture of the Day

   [1]Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our
      fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation
                    written by a professional astronomer.

                              2021 December 31
    [2]See Explanation. Clicking on the picture will download the highest
                        resolution version available.

                           JWST on the Road to L2
         Image Credit & [3]Copyright: [4]Malcolm Park ([5]North York
                          Astronomical Association)

   Explanation: This timelapse gif tracks the [6]James Webb Space
   Telescope as it streaks across the stars of Orion on its journey to a
   destination beyond the Moon. Recorded on December 28, 12 consecutive
   exposures each 10 minutes long were aligned and combined with a
   subsequent color image of the background stars to create the animation.
   About 2.5 days after its December 25 launch, JWST cruised past [7]the
   altitude of the Moon's orbit as it climbed up the gravity ridge from
   Earth to reach a halo orbit around L2, an [8]Earth-Sun Lagrange point.
   Lagrange points are convenient locations in space where the combined
   gravitational attraction of one massive body (Earth) orbiting another
   massive body (Sun) is in balance with the centripetal force needed to
   [9]move along with them. So much smaller masses, like spacecraft, will
   tend to stay there. One of 5 Lagrange points, L2 is about 1.5 million
   kilometers from Earth directly along the Earth-Sun line. JWST will
   arrive at L2 on January 23, 29 days after launch. While relaxing in
   Earth's surface gravity you can follow the James Webb Space Telescope's
   [10]progress and complicated deployment online.

                   Tomorrow's picture: 2021 in Moonstripes
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    Authors & editors: [22]Robert Nemiroff ([23]MTU) & [24]Jerry Bonnell
                                 ([25]UMCP)
          NASA Official: Phillip Newman [26]Specific rights apply.
              [27]NASA Web Privacy Policy and Important Notices
                A service of: [28]ASD at [29]NASA / [30]GSFC
                           & [31]Michigan Tech. U.

References

   1. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
   2. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/2112/JWST.gif
   3. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
   4. http://www.photopark.ca/
   5. http://www.nyaa.ca/
   6. https://webbtelescope.org/
   7. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap201002.html
   8. https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/resources/754/what-is-a-lagrange-point/
   9. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Lagrangian_points_equipotential.gif
  10. https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/whereIsWebb.html
  11. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap211230.html
  12. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/archivepix.html
  13. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/apsubmit2015.html
  14. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/aptree.html
  15. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/apod/apod_search
  16. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/calendar/allyears.html
  17. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod.rss
  18. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/edlinks.html
  19. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html
  20. http://asterisk.apod.com/discuss_apod.php?date=211231
  21. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap220101.html
  22. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/faculty/Nemiroff.html
  23. http://www.phy.mtu.edu/
  24. https://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/htmltest/jbonnell/www/bonnell.html
  25. http://www.astro.umd.edu/
  26. https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/lib/about_apod.html#srapply
  27. https://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/HP_Privacy.html
  28. https://astrophysics.gsfc.nasa.gov/
  29. https://www.nasa.gov/
  30. https://www.nasa.gov/centers/goddard/
  31. http://www.mtu.edu/