Webb telescope reaches destination, continues to amaze | The Sky Guy

In my last two Sky Guy columns I wrote about the James Webb Space Telescope. I must write once again about this amazing mission because it has made it to its destination without a hitch.

At 21.3 feet in diameter, Webb is the largest space telescope built by NASA and its partners, the European Space Agency and Canadian Space Agency. The scope traveled about a million miles from Earth and will take six months test its mirrors and other equipment. Webb is so large that it had to be folded up like an origami bird to fit into a rocket for launch.

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JWST uses the infrared spectrum because the ultraviolet and visible wavelengths of light have been pushed into the red-end of the electromagnetic spectrum due to the expansion of the Universe: “red-shift.”

Morning sky: All the planetary action is in the morning sky this month. Mars remains low in the east before sunrise all month long. You’ll need a clear view of the eastern horizon to see the red planet. Venus joined Mars in the morning sky late last month and is very bright. Mercury will be low in the east but you’ll need optical aides to pull it out of the Sun’s glare.

Evening sky: Jupiter is all that is left of visible planets in the evening sky but will disappear into the glare of the Sun this month. Catch it while you can low in the western horizon.

Due to the coronavirus, there will be limited public viewings scheduled this month. If things change, we will post it on TAS’s events calendar.

1st: New Moon.

2nd: Thin crescent Moon below Jupiter in the west at sunset.

4th – 5th: Join TAS at Cascades Park across from the DOT Building on Suwannee Street to view the 1st quarter Moon 7 to 9 p.m. (weather permitting).

5th: Tallahassee Astronomical Society’s free planetarium show, “February Skies over Tallahassee,” at the Downtown Digital Dome Theatre and Planetarium at the Challenger Learning Center (not recommended for children under 5). Doors close at 10 a.m. sharp so get there by 9:45 a.m.

5th: Join TAS at Florida Caverns State Park for a star party. Show begins at 7 p.m. eastern (weather permitting).

8th: 1st quarter Moon below Pleiades star cluster.

9th: Moon near bright star Aldebaran (“the Follower”) in Taurus the Bull.

9th – 10th: Moon occults (passes in front of) the bright star Kappa1 Tauri at 11:52 p.m. through 12:42 a.m.

13th: Moon in line with the bright stars Castor and Pollux (“the Twins”) in Gemini.

16th: Full Moon near bright star Regulus (“the Little Prince”) in Leo the Lion.

20th: Moon near bright star Spica (“the Virgin's Ear of Grain”) in Virgo the Virgin.

23rd: Last quarter Moon.

24th: Moon near bright star Antares (“the Rival of Mars”) in Scorpio the Scorpion in the morning sky.

27th: Venus, Mars, and crescent Moon form line just before sunrise in the east. You might catch Mercury and Saturn way low on the horizon with optical aides.

Check out TAS’s events calendar at www.stargazers.org.

Ken Kopczynski is president of the Tallahassee Astronomical Society, a local group of amateur astronomers.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Webb telescope reaches destination; planetary action moves to morning