JWST at the second Lagrange point (L2) from Brisbane

[Dennis]

I (just) managed to grab a few images showing the track of the James Webb Space telescope at the second Lagrange point (L2). I used The Sky X Pro to plot 3 positions of the JWST, based on a downloaded table of positions obtained from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Horizons System at:

https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons/app.html#/

The James Webb Space Telescope will not be in orbit around the Earth, like the Hubble Space Telescope is - it will actually orbit the Sun, 1.5 million kilometres (1 million miles) away from the Earth at what is called the second Lagrange point or L2. What is special about this orbit is that it lets the telescope stay in line with the Earth as it moves around the Sun. This allows the satellite's large sunshield to protect the telescope from the light and heat of the Sun and Earth (and Moon).

I grabbed a series of images (with some cloud interruptions) on Wed 9th Feb 2022, between 9:04pm and 9:42pm AEST. (2022-02-09T11:04 to 11:42 UT).

I used a Celestron C9.25 Edge HD with the Celestron x0.7 Reducer (1645mm fl) and the QHY268M camera. Each frame was exposed for 120 secs.

After processing the image set, I saw a trail that looked too good to be true and sure enough, it was. The obvious trail belonged to an Asteroid, Number 15520, aka 1999 XK98 which The Sky X plotted for me to confirm the ID.:sadeyes:

Oh well, back to the drawing board. I loaded the individual calibrated and aligned frames into PixInsight and used the Blink Process and sure enough, I could just make out a small clump of pixels marching across the screen in the predicted positions of the JWST as the frames advanced. Each clump was barely above the background level but became obvious when blinked.:)

I loaded the frames into PS CC and used Layer Masks to combine the trail of the LWST and also raise the brightness level of the trail, above the background, to make it more conspicuous.

Image details (cropped from full frame):

Center (RA, hms): 07h 28m 41.669s
Center (Dec, dms): +10° 30' 09.775"
Size: 9.84 x 7.38 arcmin
Pixel scale: 0.461 arcsec/pixel
Orientation: Up is 360 degrees E of N
2022-02-09T11:04 to 11:42 UT. (9:04pm to 9:42pm AEST)
Each frame exposed for 120 seconds.


Asteroid details:

Object Name: 15520 1999 XK98
Object Type: Asteroid
Magnitude: 16.85
Earth Distance (au): 1.79
Sun Distance (au): 2.69
Constellation: Canis Minor


Bands of clouds rolled in during the session so there are a few gaps in the trail.

Cheers

Dennis

[Peter Ward]

I rather like astro-images that verify various human space endeavours.

Nicely done....and very cool. :thumbsup:

[John W]

Excellent work Dennis - well done. Cheers John W.

[PeterM]

Wow Dennis, this is as Peter noted, very cool indeed! A very high level of accumulated skill sets, knowledge and determination, bravo! Erwin would be proud.

[Averton]

Amazing effort!

[AdamJL]

Excellent work on something quite difficult to do! Well done

[Hercules.Steel]

Truly awesome. Inspirational stuff.

[Dennis]

Thanks Peter. This was 1st light with the MX+ and I didn’t have the time to do more than a 50 point T-Point model. I ran the PA procedure then I had to slew to the JWST before it disappeared behind the tree line.

So, I didn’t have time to run the PEC Routine or calibrate a Guidescope, which left me shooting 2 minute unguided subs at 1640mm fl, so the stars are a little ragged.:)



Thanks John, it was a beast of a session as I was enjoying 1st light with a new mount, new OTA and new camera, so quite a steep learning curve.:)



Thanks Peter, as you probably know, we have been under clouds for what seems like weeks now, so it was fabulous to get out again and use all my new gear.:)



Thank you Peter and Clare , I appreciate your comments.:) In spite of a nearby Moon and the tree line, I enjoyed the session.:) Seems that Peter is a popular name amongst IIS Astronomers.;)



Thanks Adam, I initially though I had failed but I persisted with the data mining and managed to find a few photons.:)



Thank you Herc, I appreciate your comments. It was a bit of a frantic session to grab a set of images before the JWST disappeared below the tree line.:)

Cheers

Dennis