The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is now fully aligned and NASA has the images to prove it.
To announce the completion of the alignment of Web’s 18 golden mirrors used to capture light from distant and ancient galaxies, NASA has released a series of images showing the telescope’s full field of view in deep space.
For these test images, Webb was directed to the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy in the Milky Way. Sharply focused images show a dense field of hundreds of thousands of stars depicted by each of JWST’s scientific tools.
A second, more detailed version of the test images published by NASA, showing that the James Webb Space Telescope is fully aligned. NASA
“These remarkable test images from a successfully aligned telescope show what people from different countries and continents can achieve when they have a bold scientific vision for space exploration,” said Lee Feinberg, element manager for the Webb optical telescope.
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The JWST team found that its optical performance was even better than its most optimistic forecasts and unanimously agreed that the telescope alignment was complete. Now we move on to the last stage of preparation.
Scientists will fine-tune and test the four scientific tools on board used to interpret the light Webb collects in images. NASA expects the process to take several months and said the Webb telescope will be fully operational in the summer.
As Hubble’s successor to $ 10 billion, the Webb Telescope has been hailed as the world’s leading space observatory. Once fully operational, JWST will be able to look back in time, probably up to 100 million years after the Big Bang.
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Since its launch last Christmas, NASA scientists and crews have been working to align its 18 gold mirror segments in position. The Webb mirror array is so large that it had to be folded to fit inside the rocket to be deployed.
In this 2017 photo, provided by NASA, technicians lift the mirror mount of the James Webb Space Telescope using a crane. Desiree Stover / NASA
Scott Acton, a scientist for monitoring and controlling the wave front, talks about the impact that work on JWST had on him.
“With the completion of the telescope alignment and the half-life effort, my role in the James Webb Space Telescope mission is over,” Acton said. “These images have profoundly changed the way I see the universe. We are surrounded by a symphony of creation; galaxies are everywhere! I hope that everyone in the world can see them. “
In March, NASA shared another image while Webb was still in the process of aligning. He showed what is possible when the 18 mirror segments act like a giant 6.5-meter-wide mirror to capture the light of a star.
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Galaxies and stars can be seen behind the star 2MASS J17554042 + 6551277 in this image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope. Courtesy of / NASA
Until summer is over, who knows what else the Webb telescope will reveal about our space?
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