JWSTs Star Spikes Explained: Hex Mirrors Make Light Go All Kinds of Wonky

#shorts #scinews #science news #science #science max #infrared #telescope #diffraction #spikes #mirrors #struts #interference #hexagons #wavelengths #astronomy Good evening, I’m Aria. NASA’s fancy new space telescope is takin’ some pretty pictures of space, but folks noticed the stars got these funky spikes, makin’ ’em look like explodin’ fireworks on the 4th of July if Uncle Larry had a few too many Coors Lights and knocked over the launchpad. Turns out it’s ’cause J-Dub’s usin’ hexagon mirrors and they’re diffractin’ the light all weird. Light’s basically water waves, so when it hits those mirror edges it goes all boing-boing-boing like when Cousin Eddie’s doin’ cannonballs at the hotel pool. Then the light waves run into each other like Black Friday shoppers at Walmart fightin’ over a TV, and you get bright and dark spots. Pretty wild stuff, but at least we get some gnarly space images out of it. Scientists say the spikes help ’em figure out how far away stars are, but me, I just think they look badass. Makes me wanna throw on some Skynyrd and crack open a cold one. I’m Aria, goodnight everybody!

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