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The James Webb Space Telescope has completed a two-week deployment phase with its giant, gold-plated, flower-shaped mirror panel ready to explore all phases of cosmic history.
Engineering teams cheered at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, when NASA announced on Twitter that the last part of the 6.5-meter (21-foot) mirror had been deployed.
Celebrations around #NASAWebb Mission Operations Center at STScI! We have a telescope in space! Thank you all for your support in this mission. #UnfoldTheUniverse pic.twitter.com/TGfnnJ3rAi
– Space Telescope Science Institute (@SpaceTelescope) January 8, 2022
“I’m excited, what an amazing milestone,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, a senior NASA engineer, as he celebrated celebrities around the world on Saturday’s live video feed.
“We see that beautiful pattern in the sky now.”
More powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope, $ 10 billion Webb will explore the cosmos to search for the light of the first stars and galaxies formed 13.7 billion years ago. To achieve this, NASA had to wear Webb with the largest and most sensitive mirror ever fired: its “golden eye,” as scientists call it.
Because telescope it was too large in the operational configuration to fit into the nose cone of a rocket, it was transported folded.
Dissemination has been a complex and difficult task – the most spectacular project ever attempted, according to NASA.
This photo, released by NASA, celebrates James Webb Space Telescope Project Manager Bill Ochs on the left and John Durning Commissioning Manager on the right. [Bill Ingalls/NASA via AFP]
Webb it exploded On December 25 from French Guiana on an Ariane 5 rocket, and its orbit goes to the point, 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.
Although Webb will reach its space destination, known as the second Lagrange point, it will still have another five and a half months left in a few weeks.
The next steps are to align the telescope’s optics and calibrate its scientific instruments.
Far from the universe
Baltimore flight attendants began opening the main mirror on Friday, like a leafy table spreading to the left.
This mirror is made of beryllium, a light but strong metal that is resistant to cold. Each of its 18 segments is covered with an ultra-thin layer of gold, which is very reflective of infrared light. Hexagonal segments the size of a coffee table need to be adjusted in the coming days and weeks so that they can be centered as one of the stars, galaxies, and alien worlds that may have atmospheric signs of life.
The Sun’s shield will be placed between the telescope and the Sun, Earth and Moon forever, built to withstand 110 degrees Celsius (230 Fahrenheit).
The visible and ultraviolet light emitted by the first light objects has been extended as a result of the expansion of the universe, and arrives in infrared mode today, which Webb is equipped to detect with unprecedented brightness. Its infrared technology will give astronomers a new perspective on the first era of the universe.
If all goes well, science observations will begin this summer. Astronomers expect to look at the 100 millionth anniversary of the Big Bang that created the universe, closer than Hubble has achieved.
Its role also includes the study of distant planets to determine their origin, evolution, and habitability.
NASA’s telescope blog said Saturday’s procedure was “the last of the observatory’s largest expansions.”
“Its completion will set a starting point for the remaining five and a half months of implementation, which is to fix it at a stable operating temperature, align the mirrors and calibrate the scientific instruments.”
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