this post was submitted on 02 Nov 2023
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I learned recently how the James Webb Space Telescope is not orbiting around Earth but literally orbiting around an empty point in space. I don’t think I even quite understand it, but it’s really cool
For everyone who immediately thinks 'it's most likely orbiting a point within the earth,' here's a diagram to help:
Have no idea how this works... there is no gravitational pull at the L2 point, it's just an empty point in space 🤨.
JWST isn't going in circles, it's orbiting the sun. If you look at it relative to that, then it looks more like a sine wave rather than going in circles. However from the perspective of the earth, it looks like it's going in circles