• Menu
  • Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Before Header

  • About Us
  • Lexicon
  • Contact Us
  • Our Store
  • ↑
  • ↓
  • ←
  • →

Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

I’m more christian than these people and i’m an atheist.

Republicans do not pay their debts.

Motto for the House: Flip 5 and lose none.

Let there be snark.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

The low info voters probably won’t even notice or remember by their next lap around the goldfish bowl.

No one could have predicted…

Giving in to doom is how authoritarians win.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

When we show up, we win.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Give the craziest people you know everything they want and hope they don’t ask for more? Great plan.

Never entrust democracy to any process that requires Republicans to act in good faith.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

And now I have baud making fun of me. this day can’t get worse.

The republican speaker is a slippery little devil.

The lights are all blinking red.

75% of people clapping liked the show!

He really is that stupid.

The words do not have to be perfect.

We can’t confuse what’s necessary to win elections with the policies that we want to implement when we do.

Mobile Menu

  • 4 Directions VA 2025 Raffle
  • 2025 Activism
  • Donate with Venmo, Zelle & PayPal
  • Site Feedback
  • War in Ukraine
  • Submit Photos to On the Road
  • Politics
  • On The Road
  • Open Threads
  • Topics
  • Authors
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Lexicon
  • Our Store
  • Politics
  • Open Threads
  • 2025 Activism
  • Garden Chats
  • On The Road
  • Targeted Fundraising!
You are here: Home / Nature & Respite / Something Good Open Thread / Pre-Dawn STAR STUFF Open Thread: The James Webb Telescope Launch

Pre-Dawn STAR STUFF Open Thread: The James Webb Telescope Launch

by Anne Laurie|  December 25, 20216:17 am| 50 Comments

This post is in: Something Good Open Thread, Space

FacebookTweetEmail

Celebrate #Christmas2021 very early tomorrow — watch as he James Webb Space Telescope launches during a 32-minute window that opens at 7:20 a.m. EST from Kourou, French Guiana, atop an Ariane 5 rocket. Live at https://t.co/Q2KZBb2mKZ beginning at 6 a.m. EST.

— Laurie Garrett (@Laurie_Garrett) December 24, 2021

Probably of interest only to those who already know about it, but still…

LIVE NOW: Watch @NASAWebb, the world’s most powerful space telescope, launch on a mission to #UnfoldTheUniverse.

? With its 7:20am ET (12:20 UTC) liftoff, Webb will usher in a new era of astronomy.

Have questions? Drop them below. https://t.co/GgJFxbflRO

— NASA (@NASA) December 25, 2021

my rocket scientist cousin just noted that the jwst will launch on dec. 25, the birthday anniversary of a historical figure who changed the world: isaac newton

— Gerry Doyle (@mgerrydoyle) December 24, 2021

The James Webb Space Telescope will be humanity’s most powerful instrument for studying the formation of our universe and distant worlds in our galaxy.

But the Webb has trudged through one of the most fraught development timelines of any space program. https://t.co/nQm2NI62xM

— The New York Times (@nytimes) December 24, 2021

FacebookTweetEmail
Previous Post: « COVID-19 Coronavirus Updates: Friday / Saturday, Dec. 24-25
Next Post: Saturday Morning Open Thread: Merry Xmas »

Reader Interactions

50Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    December 25, 2021 at 6:22 am

    Can’t wait for the photos.

    Merry Christmas!

  2. 2.

    PAM Dirac

    December 25, 2021 at 6:25 am

    I’m tuned in. After all these years it’s hard to believe the launch is less than an hour away.

  3. 3.

    Quinerly

    December 25, 2021 at 6:32 am

    Merry Christmas!

  4. 4.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 25, 2021 at 6:35 am

    Merry Christmas, all, and happy birthday to Sir Isaac! Only 45 minutes now until the launch window opens!

  5. 5.

    p.a.

    December 25, 2021 at 6:41 am

    Don’t forget to install your NASA app!

     

    Also too, Merry Christmas.

  6. 6.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 25, 2021 at 6:47 am

    @Baud:

    Can’t wait for the photos.

    Not sure I like the competition.

  7. 7.

    Baud

    December 25, 2021 at 6:54 am

    @p.a.:

    What does the NASA app do?

  8. 8.

    SteveinPHX

    December 25, 2021 at 6:55 am

    One of my sons is working on his doctorate in astrophysics. He’s excited about this. Successful deployment will give the field plenty of new research opportunities.
    Merry Christmas!

  9. 9.

    Baud

    December 25, 2021 at 6:57 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA:

    Heh. You combine earth and sky.  I don’t think JW will have much earth.

  10. 10.

    ?BillinGlendaleCA

    December 25, 2021 at 7:00 am

    @Baud: Wait until they hear about “The Happy Slider”, aka compositing.

  11. 11.

    Raven

    December 25, 2021 at 7:05 am

    The James Webb who wrote “Wichita Lineman”?

  12. 12.

    Geo Wilcox

    December 25, 2021 at 7:14 am

    @Raven: No the homophobe…

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nasa-needs-to-rename-the-james-webb-space-telescope/

  13. 13.

    p.a.

    December 25, 2021 at 7:17 am

    @Baud: Access to news, images, videos, missions, schedules, tweets, live launches, more

  14. 14.

    cope

    December 25, 2021 at 7:18 am

    I’ve been waiting years and years for this to happen.  Getting JWST to the L2 point orbit and then unfolding the origami observatory will make landing on Mars look like a walk in the park.

  15. 15.

    Baud

    December 25, 2021 at 7:20 am

    @p.a.:

    Thanks!

  16. 16.

    PAM Dirac

    December 25, 2021 at 7:21 am

    Go Webb Go!

  17. 17.

    PAM Dirac

    December 25, 2021 at 7:26 am

    4 minutes in and still looking good.

  18. 18.

    Raven

    December 25, 2021 at 7:26 am

    @Geo Wilcox: ah, not the right wing senator either!

  19. 19.

    Kalakal

    December 25, 2021 at 7:34 am

    Still looking good!

  20. 20.

    Baud

    December 25, 2021 at 7:37 am

    Props to the guy taking the live action video of the telescope.

  21. 21.

    cope

    December 25, 2021 at 7:43 am

    @Baud: He (or she) better be getting hazard pay and a travel stipend.

  22. 22.

    cope

    December 25, 2021 at 7:48 am

    Separation. It’s NASA’s mission now.

  23. 23.

    lowtechcyclist

    December 25, 2021 at 7:52 am

    Yep, the observatory is on its own, on its way to L2.

    Merry Christmas, and happy birthday, Isaac Newton!

  24. 24.

    cope

    December 25, 2021 at 7:57 am

    There’s a lot left to get done first but here’s hoping for many a future BJ post about various images and discoveries of JWST.

  25. 25.

    Spanky

    December 25, 2021 at 7:57 am

    Merci, Arianne!

    A lot of gray heads in that MOC. A lot of guys I know from my time at GSFC have been working towards this for a long time. Retirements deferred.

    Someone’s chopping onions in here.

  26. 26.

    Kalakal

    December 25, 2021 at 7:59 am

    All looking very good, powered up and on its own. A lot of very happy (and relieved French people ). Now for a demonstration of birthday boy Isaacs orbital mechanics in action.

    Merry Christmas all

  27. 27.

    Geminid

    December 25, 2021 at 8:27 am

    @Raven: Senator James Webb beat George Allen, which was a good thing, then retired after one term, which I thought was also good, especially when Tom Kaine took his place. Haven’t heard much from him since, which is probably good too.

    The songwriter still wins Best-in-Webb.

  28. 28.

    WereBear

    December 25, 2021 at 8:32 am

    @cope: All day I’ll be thinking “unfolding the origami observatory” so thank you :)

    My favorite Christmas present this morning is this article:

    Rankin said the Island of Misfit Toys was a conscious effort to connect with children who were different or with those who felt that they didn’t quite fit in.

    ‘Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer’ Producer Reveals Why the Island of Misfit Toys Is in the Christmas Special

    Warmed my heart.

  29. 29.

    S. Cerevisiae

    December 25, 2021 at 8:51 am

    I know that there’s a lot of things that still need to go right but I am very relieved that it’s powered up and on course. Science! ?

  30. 30.

    debbie

    December 25, 2021 at 8:55 am

    Huh. I woke up at 7:20. I must have heard the takeoff. Go, Webb, go!

  31. 31.

    Ken

    December 25, 2021 at 9:25 am

    @?BillinGlendaleCA: Not sure I like the competition.

    Careful, if the thing doesn’t unfold properly they’re going to be looking for a scapegoat.

    Besides, to me what makes your pictures beautiful is the combination of the stars with the objects in the foreground.  (For values of “foreground” that include “mountain range 15 miles away”.)

  32. 32.

    Fair Economist

    December 25, 2021 at 9:30 am

    Fortunately as a Left Coaster I slept though the scariest parts. Congratulations to all involved in this amazing feat of global cooperation. Hoping the rest goes as well; I’m excited about the pics too.

  33. 33.

    Baud

    December 25, 2021 at 9:35 am

    Good comment on Reddit explaining Webb telescope.

  34. 34.

    Ken

    December 25, 2021 at 9:44 am

    @Baud: Good comment on Reddit

    It’s a Christmas miracle!

  35. 35.

    P Thomas

    December 25, 2021 at 9:48 am

    XKCD is monitoring the mission. Mouseover text especially good.

  36. 36.

    oldgold

    December 25, 2021 at 10:02 am

     

    Gerry Doyle: “My rocket scientist cousin just noted that the jwst will launch on dec. 25, the birthday anniversary of a historical figure who changed the world: Issac  Newton.“


    Good story, but Isaac Newton was born January 4, 1643. And, after suffering through 2 years of calculus, my feelings on his changing the the world are decidedly mixed.

  37. 37.

    WaterGirl

    December 25, 2021 at 10:10 am

    @P Thomas: Your link wasn’t working so I fixed it and then linked it to the text.

  38. 38.

    P Thomas

    December 25, 2021 at 10:16 am

    @WaterGirl: Thank you so much!  Merry xkcd…or something like that!

  39. 39.

    Ken

    December 25, 2021 at 10:20 am

    @oldgold: Isaac Newton was born January 4, 1643.

    Julian/Gregorian switchover, so you’re both right.

  40. 40.

    dmsilev

    December 25, 2021 at 10:21 am

    @oldgold: Yes and no. When Newton was born, England was still using the old Julian calendar, and dates had slipped by several days relative to the more accurate Gregorian. They switched a century or so after Newton’s birth if memory serves, and you have to account for the ‘missing’ days…

  41. 41.

    Betty

    December 25, 2021 at 10:35 am

    It may have taken a long time because of mishaps, but the telescope and the launch give you renewed faith in humanity’s ability to do some things extremely well. The collaboration and the precision are heartening.

  42. 42.

    Jerzy Russian

    December 25, 2021 at 10:44 am

    @dmsilev:   Designers of time machines need to be especially careful to account for these issues that arise when different calendars were in use.

  43. 43.

    Raoul Paste

    December 25, 2021 at 10:52 am

    Very late to this thread, but I’m so excited about this telescope

    Also Merry Christmas to all

  44. 44.

    Jim Appleton

    December 25, 2021 at 11:07 am

    @Jerzy Russian:   To really nerd out on calibration, check Tom Scott.

  45. 45.

    laura

    December 25, 2021 at 11:45 am

    @Raven: No, the one who wrote The Moon’s a Harsh Mistress?

  46. 46.

    Kalakal

    December 25, 2021 at 12:14 pm

    @Jerzy Russian: And for when the year actually started on March 25th rather than Jan 1st

  47. 47.

    Yutsano

    December 25, 2021 at 12:37 pm

    I am of course just waking up now. I’m so relieved the James Webb telescope went up without a problem so far. But to be fair that was the easier part. The unfolding at the end of January…I need to download the NASA Eyes app again.

  48. 48.

    Another Scott

    December 25, 2021 at 12:41 pm

    @Jim Appleton: (Relatedly) It’s a tough problem, but MS Windows seemed to have a really stupid way of dealing with ST/DST issues.  I don’t know if it’s still the case, but there seemed to be a time in the not too distant past whenever there was a time change that Windows would furiously work in the background to change the timestamp of every file.  It could cause lots of problems if some PCs on the network didn’t have the TZ or ST/DST flags set properly.

    “WTF?  Why does this backup copy of this datafile have a timestamp that’s an hour off from the current one??!”

    :-/

    Only 16 years to go until the 32-bit Unix epoch rolls over!!1

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  49. 49.

    Ken

    December 25, 2021 at 2:59 pm

    @Jerzy Russian:  Designers of time machines need to be especially careful to account for these issues that arise when different calendars were in use.

    For example, do not try to land in Samoa on December 30, 2011 — the country changed time zones to cross the international date line, and went directly from the 29th to the 31st.

  50. 50.

    Jim Appleton

    December 25, 2021 at 6:00 pm

    @Another Scott:  Thx. Learned I’m a shade over 22,000 days old.

Comments are closed.

Primary Sidebar

On The Road - dmkingto - SF Bay Area Scenes 7
Image by dmkingto (7/31/25)
Donate

Recent Comments

  • Steve LaBonne on Unraveling (Open Thread) (Jul 16, 2025 @ 10:32am)
  • Geminid on Unraveling (Open Thread) (Jul 16, 2025 @ 10:30am)
  • WTFGhost on Unraveling (Open Thread) (Jul 16, 2025 @ 10:29am)
  • Omnes Omnibus on Unraveling (Open Thread) (Jul 16, 2025 @ 10:27am)
  • Kristine on Unraveling (Open Thread) (Jul 16, 2025 @ 10:27am)

Balloon Juice Posts

View by Topic
View by Author
View by Month & Year
View by Past Author

Featuring

Medium Cool
Artists in Our Midst
Authors in Our Midst
No Kings Protests June 14 2025

🎈Keep Balloon Juice Ad Free

Become a Balloon Juice Patreon
Donate with Venmo, Zelle or PayPal

Calling All Jackals

Site Feedback
Nominate a Rotating Tag
Submit Photos to On the Road
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Links)
Balloon Juice Anniversary (All Posts)
Fix Nyms with Apostrophes

Social Media

Balloon Juice
WaterGirl
TaMara
John Cole
DougJ (aka NYT Pitchbot)
Betty Cracker
Tom Levenson
David Anderson
Major Major Major Major
DougJ NYT Pitchbot
mistermix

Keeping Track

Legal Challenges (Lawfare)
Republicans Fleeing Town Halls (TPM)
21 Letters (to Borrow or Steal)
Search Donations from a Brand

Feeling Defeated?  If We Give Up, It's Game Over

Donate

Site Footer

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

  • Facebook
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Comment Policy
  • Our Authors
  • Blogroll
  • Our Artists
  • Privacy Policy

Copyright © 2025 Dev Balloon Juice · All Rights Reserved · Powered by BizBudding Inc

Share this ArticleLike this article? Email it to a friend!

Email sent!