Two weeks after liftoff, the Space Telescope James Webb finally completed its last leg of takeoff. Now, the telescope has its wings and mirrors in the final configuration.
Interestingly, the main mirror of the James Webb Telescope is about 6,5 meters in diameter, which justifies its folded transport, since it would be impossible to transport it in the rocket in its open format.
However, for the wings of the Telescope to open, it was necessary for NASA to carry out “a complex and challenging task”, becoming the most important project for the future of research by the American agency.
Two weeks after launch, @NASAWebb has hit its next biggest milestone: the mirrors have completed deployment and the next-generation telescope has taken its final form.
ADVERTISING Next up for Webb? Five months of alignment and calibration before we start getting images: pic.twitter.com/BOj5O1HS37
- NASA (@NASA) January 8, 2022
In addition, the telescope has a five-layer thermal shield, serving as a kind of "parasol", ensuring that its instruments are in the Sun's shadow to detect low-intensity infrared signals, and thus, explore the past of the Sun. Universe.
The new telescope was launched last December 25th by the Ariane 5,5 rocket, being a t effort by NASA with the ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency. James Web is also able to search for information about the first galaxies in the universe, including a wide exploration of our solar system, including: planets, stars, as well as planets that are not part of our solar system (exoplanets).
Now, thanks to its infrared observation technology, James Webb is able to observe the first stars and galaxies formed more than 13,5 billion years ago, giving astronomers the possibility to understand more deeply the origin of the Universe.
With information: AFP
