The James Webb Space Telescope will capture images of the first stars in the universe and help scientists study the atmospheres of planets orbiting stars outside our solar system. see if they can survive.
NASA / AP
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NASA / AP
The James Webb Space Telescope will capture images of the first stars in the universe and help scientists study the atmospheres of planets orbiting stars outside our solar system. see if they can survive.
NASA / AP
The James Webb Space Telescope, the most powerful telescope ever built, has reached its final destination in space. Now comes the interesting part.
Thirty days after launch, the tennis court-sized telescope entered a parking lot about a million miles from Earth. From there, it will begin its ambitious mission to better understand the early days of our universe, observe distant alien planets and their atmospheres, and help answer the question. answer large-scale questions like how fast the universe is expanding.
“Webb, welcome home!” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement Second after the final course adjustment of the large telescope.
“We’re one step closer to uncovering the mysteries of the universe. And I can’t wait to see Webb’s first new views of the universe this summer!”
Bill Ochs, Webb project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, added that the controllers are expected to spend the next three months tweaking the infrared telescope’s mirror segments and test its devices.
“We are now on the verge of aligning the mirrors, activating and operating the device, and beginning to make wonderful and amazing discoveries,” says Ochs.
JWST, as the telescope’s name suggests, is more sophisticated than the iconic Hubble Space Telescope and will take pictures of the first stars in the universe. Scientists say they will also study the atmospheres of planets orbiting stars outside our solar system to see if they are habitable – or even inhabited. Are not.
The giant telescope is able to do this in part because it observes longer wavelengths of light than Hubble can.
“The first stars and galaxies to form are moving away from Earth so quickly that light is being converted from visible to infrared wavelengths. So the Hubble Telescope cannot see that light, but JWST can”, Joe Palca of NPR explain.
The revolutionary telescope will be in a special orbit around a point in space called Lagrange Point 2, or L2 – a point that will help stabilize its position relative to the Earth and the Sun. Being in that location protects it from major changes in temperature and allows JWST’s massive sunshade to block heat from the sun. The telescope must maintain a constant supercooled condition – minus 370 degrees Fahrenheit – in order for the instruments to function properly.
In its final form, the telescope is about three stories tall, with a mirror measuring 21 feet across – too large to fly into space fully assembled. Instead, it was folded into a rocket and carefully unfolded by teams sending commands from Earth. Although the month-long process was a nerve-wracking one, it seemed to have been completed perfectly.
This project is worth about 10 billion dollars and is in progress since the late 1980s. Its first cosmic images are expected to be released to the public this summer.
