Hi Allen, On Wed, Jan 5, 2022 at 10:25 PM Allen Thomson via Seesat-l <seesat-l_at_satobs.org> wrote: > Are there any analyses of the possibility that the shiny JWST sunshade in its SEL-2 halo orbit will produce flares? Or, somewhat like Lacrosse 5, antiflares? This is a great question! I think it is entirely possible for the sunshade to reflect sunlight back to Earth. As the sunshade is fixed to the telescope, whether the reflections reach Earth will depend on the location of JWST in its SEL2 orbit, as well as its pointing direction. This page shows that it can target angles from 85 to 135 deg away from the sun: https://jwst-docs.stsci.edu/jwst-observatory-characteristics/jwst-observatory-coordinate-system-and-field-of-regard/jwst-target-viewing-constraints Given that the orbit should be relatively well known, as well as the schedule of targets and hence pointing directions, flare for different locations on Earth may well be predictable. Regards, Cees _______________________________________________ Seesat-l mailing list http://mailman.satobs.org/mailman/listinfo/seesat-lReceived on Wed Jan 05 2022 - 15:52:41 UTC
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