THROWBACK: Happy Thought for 28 May, 2021

Have a Happy Thought: 

No matter how late you are delivering a project for work, or getting something done at home, you’re still likely better than the James Webb Space Telescope.

This incredibly complex, fiddly piece of **absolutely amazing** technology has suffered from just about every possible thing that could delay it. Originally scheduled to launch in 2007, it’s now scheduled (fingers crossed!) for later this year. Astronomers and astrophysicists, who cannot. wait. for this telescope, regularly joke about it seemingly being cursed. Check out the table below to see just how many times the launch date has been… re-calculated.

The latest thing that’s been identified that could delay the launch?

Pirates.

Yep, that’s right – there is a fear that pirates will hijack the boat and hold it for ransom(this actually happened to the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope* on its way to Hawaii).

But pirate attacks are not the only thing that can shut down an observatory.

Much scarier^ is having all of your operations shut down by… Flying Squirrels.

^not at all scarier

 

I’ll let the Green Bank Observatory social media team tell you the story from here:

For the curious: A while back, a group of conservationists decided to do a study on the migration habits of the flying squirrels in Monongahela National Forest, which was great. We love flying squirrels! We love conservation!

In order to track these flying squirrels, they needed to catch and tag them with GPS monitors. Please note that, not only is this crucial to understanding how this species is recovering from being endangered, it is also adorable.

These GPS monitors gave off a lot of interference. Like, a lot. Like, a LOT. Like, "we couldn't take any data at all, we just keep picking up flying squirrels" a lot.

So we couldn't take observations, while we waited for the batteries in the GPS tags to die. (We did get some important maintenance done in the meantime, which was nice.)

And that, my friends, is the story of how a fleet of flying squirrels shut down Green Bank observations for three months.

Planned launch dates for the James Webb Space Telescope:

 

*The positioning of the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope is very contentious. Astronomers supporting the location argue that its high elevation, near the summit of Mauna Kea, allows for better imagery, although many other astronomers note there are several other suitable locations. Indigenous Hawaiian voices were ignored when they protested the placement on what is a sacred site. Yay colonialism.

 

 Receipts:

James Clerk Maxwell Telescope being held to ransom by pirates: https://www.eaobservatory.org/jcmt/public/jcmt/history/

James Clerk Maxwell Telescope controversial location: https://www.nature.com/news/polopoly_fs/1.17688!/menu/main/topColumns/topLeftColumn/pdf/522015a.pdf?origin=ppub

Flying squirrels: https://twitter.com/GreenBankObserv/status/1357801118613598212

James Webb Space Telescope feared being held to ransom by pirates: https://twitter.com/conselice/status/1357420590399975426