Real Sheldon: a Science Blog

How everything started

It all started at a sushi dinner. While I was eating a delicious uramaki roll, my phone screen lit up, notifying me of a NASA live broadcast. I tapped without thinking twice and, to my surprise, I discovered it was a videocast about a brand new telescope!

Here is the video of its launch!

“That’s No Reason To Cry. One Cries Because One Is Sad. For Example, I Cry Because Others Are Stupid And It Makes Me Sad.” Sheldon Cooper

But, where is it?

Joseph-Louis Lagrange was an 18th century mathematician who found the solution to what is called the “three-body problem.” That is, is there any stable configuration, in which three bodies could orbit each other, yet stay in the same position relative to each other? As it turns out, there are five solutions to this problem – and they are called the five Lagrange points, after their discoverer. At Lagrange points, the gravitational pull of two large masses precisely equals the centripetal force required for a small object to move with them. The L1, L2, and L3 points are all in line with each other – and L4 and L5 are at the points of equilateral triangles. Webb orbits around L2; it does not sit stationary precisely at L2.

“Did you know that if gravity were slightly more powerful, the universe would collapse into a ball?” Sheldon Cooper

Conclusion

This is the end of my first blog post. I’m so excited to see how this project will go on. See you on our next travel in the vast universe of science!