Quote:
|
Originally Posted by ToSeek
James Webb isn't actually a replacement, even though it's being billed as such. It's intended to focus on the infrared part of the spectrum, while Hubble deals mostly with visible light.
And even if it were a replacement, Hubble is oversubscribed by something like a factor of 5 (ngc3314 can probably provide an exact figure). You could have five Hubbles up there, and astronomers could keep them all busy.
|
Oversubscription factors for Hubble have generally been 5-7 depending on the year (new instruments generate spikes of demand).
JWST has less overlap in capability with HST than was once planned - to reduce cost overruns, much potential visible-light capability and image quality have been sacrificed to protect the core IR capability. The IR is particularly valuable for the triple questions driving much of the JWST design - formation of galaxies, formation of stars, formation of planets.