Talk:381: Mobius Battle

2024-11-28T18:18:24Z

162.158.158.108:

The gif should alternate left/right in order to properly portray the battle. [[Special:Contributions/184.66.160.91|184.66.160.91]] 06:48, 8 July 2013 (UTC)

: Look again, it does already! --[[Special:Contributions/83.243.48.2|83.243.48.2]] 08:20, 8 July 2013 (UTC)

Technically, there's only one guy. He passes through the comic twice for every one time the ball passes through. [[Special:Contributions/199.27.128.167|199.27.128.167]] 20:37, 17 December 2013 (UTC)
:Agreed. [[User:Redacted II|Redacted II]] ([[User talk:Redacted II|talk]]) 18:01, 28 November 2024 (UTC)
::I wanted to critique you for bringing up a thread that was 11 years ago, but decided that comic [[2363|2363: Message Boards]] would be a perfect substitute. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.108|162.158.158.108]] 18:18, 28 November 2024 (UTC)

The explanation says "[the projectionist] would have no way to feed a Mobius strip film reel properly into a normal projector." That depends on how you define "normal". I just tried this on my grandfather's 16mm cine (film) and it worked fine. I cut ~300 frames from the start of a movie, twisted 180°, and spliced. Since my projector loads from the side it went in no problem and I used empty takeup reels to hold the loops. This wouldn't work on 8mm, though, cause the holes are only on one side. Can't speak to 35mm or IMAX film; I suspect not, because they have soundtracks, but I don't know for sure. Oh, I just thought of something to try with my 16mm loop; if I cut it in half lengthwise I should have a 600 half-frame 8mm loop, right? I'm not gonna try 'cause I don't have any way to cut down the middle in an exact enough way but that would be cool to try. Oh, and isn't it spelt Möbius? [[Special:Contributions/173.245.54.213|173.245.54.213]] 03:15, 13 January 2015 (UTC)

2014: JWST Delays

2021-08-26T11:19:47Z

162.158.158.108: /* Explanation */

<noinclude>:''"2014", this comic's number, redirects here. For the comic named "2014", see [[1311: 2014]].''</noinclude>
{{comic
| number = 2014
| date = July 2, 2018
| title = JWST Delays
| image = jwst_delays.png
| titletext = Since delays should get less likely closer to the launch, most astronomers in 2018 believed the expansion of the schedule was slowing, but by early 2020 new measurements indicated that it was actually accelerating.
}}

==Explanation==

The {{w|James Webb Space Telescope}} (JWST) is a {{w|space telescope}} created to be the successor of the {{w|Hubble Space Telescope}}.

The telescope has been in development since 1996, but has been plagued by numerous delays and cost overruns. This comic was likely inspired by the most recent [https://nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-completes-webb-telescope-review-commits-to-launch-in-early-2021 delay announcement], which was posted on June 27, 2018. At that time, the JWST was scheduled to launch on March 30, 2021. In July 2020, this was pushed back further to October 31, 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. In June 2021,
it was announced that the launch day is likely slip to at least mid-November 2021.

This comic portrays the launch delays and the new predicted launch years and the times at which those predictions were made. There have been so many delays in this project that you can plot a line of best fit with a surprisingly high degree of accuracy. Randall says optimistically that the line’s slope is less than one (there is less than one year of ''new'' delay per year of elapsed time), implying, of course, that if events continue without further intervention, it will eventually be built, with a predicted date of late 2026.

The title text compares the famous research over the {{w|Accelerating expansion of the universe|universe’s accelerating expansion}} to the apparently ever-delaying schedule and observes that the delay per time does not decrease, although the date gets nearer (which should help to schedule the launch date, as research and unknown parameters are replaced with engineering and exact predictions and measurements). However, this delay inflation contradicts Randall's usage of a linear trendline.

The Wikipedia article linked above includes a {{w|James Webb Space Telescope#Cost and schedule issues|table}} which provides the data points for the chart:

{| class=wikitable
! width=35 | Year !! Planned<br />launch !! Time left<br />(years)
|-
| 1997 || 2007 || 10
|-
| 1998 || 2007 || 9
|-
| 1999 || 2007 to 2008 || 8-9
|-
| 2000 || 2009 || 9
|-
| 2002 || 2010 || 8
|-
| 2003 || 2011 || 8
|-
| 2005 || 2013 || 8
|-
| 2006 || 2014 || 8
|-
| 2008 || 2014 || 6
|-
| 2010 || 2015 to 2016 || 5-6
|-
| 2011 || 2018 || 7
|-
| 2013 || 2018 || 5
|-
| 2017 || 2019 || 2
|-
|2018 || 2020 || 2
|-
|2018 || 2021 || 3
|-
|2020 || 2021 || 1
|-
|2021 || 2021 || 0
|}

==Transcript==
:[Top caption, in the panel:]
:James Webb Space Telescope
:[Subtitle of top caption:]
:Launch Delays

:[There is a positive-quadrant only line graph. The x- axis is labeled 'Current Date' and the y axis is labeled 'Planned Launch Date'. The dates on both of the axes range from 1995 to 2030.]
:[In the graph are 15 points, starting at (1997,2007) and extending at a slope of a little less than one. The most recent one is labeled 'Now: 2021'.]
:[There are two lines on the graph: a red one and a dashed black one. The red one is a regression of the points on the graph. It has a slope of about ⅔. The black one is a line with a slope of one. They intersect at the point (2026,2026), marked by the label 'Late 2026'?]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:Look, at least the slope is less than one.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics with color]]
[[Category:Astronomy]]
[[Category:Space probes]]
[[Category:Line graphs]]
[[Category:Extrapolation]]

explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

Talk:381: Mobius Battle

2014: JWST Delays