The Genius Geometry of the James Webb Space Telescope

NASA made a great "Webb’s Diffraction Spikes" infographic.

The differences between Webb and Hubble

Webb deepfield

Hubble deepfield

Here is the WebbPSF python package.

LIVE: Biden previews first images from Webb Space Telescope (reveal is at 05:37)

Bill Nelson born September 29, 1942. Joe Biden born November 20, 1942. They were both 79 at the time.

The images of space were all produced by NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute who have kindly made them freely available for the rest of us to use.

CORRECTIONS
- None yet, let me know if you spot anything!

Filming and editing by Alex Genn-Bash
Written and performed by Matt Parker
Produced by Nicole Jacobus
Music by Howard Carter
Design by Simon Wright and Adam Robinson

MATT PARKER: Stand-up Mathematician

[stargazer]

The bit you seem to have missed between the first JWST image and the Hubble Deep Field is that the Hubble shot is about 22 DAYS of exposure time. The JWST exposure was only about 12.5 hours, yet it is 100 times deeper than Hubble. That's what makes it amazing - it shows just how big a step up JWST is over Hubble. Just wait until you see the 22 day JWST deep field.

[thalt]

"Hexagons are the hexagreatest"
My day has just been ruined.

[daeken]

What truly blows my mind is that the JWST's mirrors make the Hubble look miniscule. But ... I've stood next to the Hubble telescope - or at least a clone of it - at the National Air & Space Museum a dozen times. It's literally the size of a school bus! The fact that it's now our "small" space telescope is astonishing.

[JosiGold]

Kid: Can we get the bestagon hexagons?
Mom: but we have hexagons at home.
The Hexagons at home :The hexagreatest

[natdrat]

7:10 "It's the Hubble, close enough is good enough."

That is a deep cut.

[cellusDS]

Klaus Teuber was the first person to create a model of the James Webb Space Telescope in 1995 when he invented Catan.

[twojuiceman]

Everyone's talking about CGP Grey's "Hexagons are the bestagons" but nobody remembers Matt's "There is only one true parabola"

[ajToncek]

CGP gray may be happy...we just won't know until his next upload

[DeJay]

"This model I've made of the James Webb Telescope is to scale, uhm actually it's roughly π% of the original but that was by accident ..."
-Matt Πarker moment

[charlestaylor]

Thank you. You're the first to actually explain how we're seeing what we see, and I've watch hundreds of videos about the JWST. That really brought things in to focus. Those mirrors or reflectors made to scale really shows how different they are.

[Rulerofwax]

I had heard already that the secondary mirror supports were lined up to hide some of the diffraction pattern, but I didn't understand how that would leave two small horizontal lines. I thought it would have to be at an angle or only one line. For one, I didn't know the pattern was not an equilateral triangle and two, the thing that really surprised me, was that the diffraction lines were orthogonal to the supports. It blew my mind that the vertical support would cause a horizontal line. Looking closely at some JWST pictures, I can now see how the other four lines of the supports lay on top of the 6 larger lines - they are just a tad bit brighter than the two other large lines without the support diffraction on top.

[douglasboyle]

Okay, this really was genius. It's one of those things I never heard about before but I was glad I heard it from you because you explained it so well and in a way that I don't think a person who just does space stuff would have been able to make it so clear and elegant.

[Firefoxav]

I know it’s a joke, but somebody needs to make sure he sees how his presentation came across. They can’t keep wasting these educational opportunities on someone’s ego. Great job.

[tsptcod]

I want to see a follow up video where Matt calculates the correct length of the secondary mirror.

[Vampire-Catgirl]

When you're expecting "best-a-gon", but then "hexa-greatest" comes in like a punch to the gut

[Kirmo]

this video was so funny

2:30 "skipping over Bill's uninspired space ramble"
4:23 "what they do have in common, other than being in space, is they both have a space"

[skrdman]

It's a good thing you've already established yourself as someone who's not afraid to make mistakes and leave it in. Otherwise I would have had a harder time forgiving you taping those supports the way you did initially.

[andrycraft]

15:36 This part broke me. We need to know more about Matt's temporal and cloning powers. I'm eagerly waiting for the PCU (Parker Cinematic Universe).

[noahkra]

I forgot how absolutely terrible that first image reveal was and yet how hyped I still was for it regardless hahaha

[tymenvanessen]

why didnt they just hide all of the supports in 3 different corners of the hexagons? they could have done steps of 1/3 around from the first cornet they picked, and would have ensured that all 3 difraction directions have the same amount of distortion rather than having 2 lines be added on by the support plus the extra bar