Ask HN: Why can't Webb take (suboptimal) photos as soon as it gets to L2?
I don't understand why there's a five month wait after getting to L2. Why not release some suboptimal photos until then?
> The first round of focusing will be for just one instrument, the Near-Infrared Camera. Remember, though, that JWST has four separate instruments (more on that below), and they are not all looking at exactly the same point on the sky. The focusing process must then be repeated in what is called a “Multi-Instrument Multi-Field” (MIMF) sequence, which may be done more than once to achieve perfect focus for all the instruments.
> By the time JWST is four months out from launch, the telescope should be aligned, and all the instruments focused. After that, the JWST team turns its attention to the science instruments themselves.
From https://www.planetary.org/articles/jwst-first-images
—-
I can only assume (fyi I have no real idea what I’m talking about here) that since JWST is designed to see so far into space that trying to take a picture without aligning any of the instruments and while in transit would result in something more incoherent than just a suboptimal picture.
Here's a whole list of calibration challenges that needs to be overcome: https://www.stsci.edu/~INS/2010CalWorkshop/mather.pdf
From JAN9 press conference panel notes by Marcia Smith (@SpcPlcyOnline):
>Jane Rigby: we want the first images the public sees to be "wow" images that do justice to what these four instruments can do. So we will wait till commissioning is complete and we're starting normal science operations.
https://twitter.com/SpcPlcyOnline/status/1479910940988649474