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                           Astronomy Picture of the Day   
      
       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   
      
                              JWST on the Road to L2   
          Image Credit & Copyright: Malcolm Park (North York Astronomical   
                                   Association)   
      
      Explanation: This timelapse gif tracks the 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 the altitude of the Moon's   
      orbit as it climbed up the gravity ridge from Earth to reach a halo   
      orbit around L2, an 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 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 progress and   
      complicated deployment online.   
      
                      Tomorrow's picture: 2021 in Moonstripes   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Phillip Newman Specific rights apply.   
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                         A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
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