How do they decide on which direction to point the James Webb telescope?

Question

How do they decide on which direction to point the James Webb telescope?

In: 14

Answer 1

By committee of course! Research proposals are submitted to a review board which then will rank them based on things like potential research value, etc. The end goal is to book as much of the telescope’s time as possible and to work out a schedule where it can move the most easily between points of observation. The telescope can’t point just anywhere at any given time as some areas of the sky are only visible during certain times of the year, meaning scheduling certain windows of observation is important.