About the Song
The James Webb Space Telescope Song (J. Webb) - This is a song I had to write. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is actually named after the director of NASA in the 1960’s when we landed on the Moon, James E. Webb. The NASA JWST is going to be a remarkable telescope once finished. It will have a 6.5-meter segmented mirror that is sensitive to infrared light and will be launched into orbit around the Sun beyond the orbit of the Moon. Infrared light is too red for us to see with our eyes, but its detectors can “see” it very efficiently. The primary mission of the JWST is three-fold: to solve the riddle of star formation, to look back into the early universe to a time when galaxies were just being assembled, and to find Earth-like planets around other stars in our galaxy. Dr. John Mather is the primary architect of this instrument, which will be the most powerful telescope every built by mankind. I am constantly asked if new JWST is named after me! In person, through e-mails, even in Facebook posts, I have had to explain, “No, the JWST is not named after me!” It became so persistent that I was inspired to I write a song about it. Each of the verses represents a real event. The first verse is about a friend I hadn’t heard from for years. I ran into him at my old college, and one of the first things he said to me was “You must be doing really well, I heard about your space telescope.” Of course I had to tell him, “No, it’s not named after me”. As in the second verse, one of my nieces wrote me an e-mail and said she had been reading about the new telescope NASA is building. She was so proud that they named it after her uncle! So I had to write her back and explain the truth. Dr. John Mather, the architect of the JWST, introduced himself to me at an American Astronomical Society meeting jokingly referring to my namesake telescope. Finally, I used to GOOGLE my name and along with the politician and the songwriter, I was there on the first page of listings. Since the JWST, my first appearance is page 15+! Did you pick up on the “tis not named after me” and the final retort “is a royal pain”? Bazinga!
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Lyrics
I was talking to a friend, just a few years ago, he said to me they named a telescope for you I see
chorus
I had to tell him, I had to come clean, the James Webb Space Telescope for me it is not named
Then I got an E-mail just a few months ago, my niece wrote to me, they named a telescope for you I see
chorus
I had to tell her, I had to come clean, the James Webb Space Telescope for me it is not named.
I went to a conference just the other day, A tall man named Mather said “My telescopes got your name I see”
chorus
I had to tell him, I had to come clean, the James Webb Space Telescope for me it is not named.
I Googled my name just a few hours ago, I used to find only me, now that space telescope is all I see
chorus
I must confess it simply cannot be, the James Webb space telescope is not named after me
Its plain to see, I’m sure you’d feel the same, the James Webb Space Telescope for me is a royal pain.
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