The James Webb Space Telescope, located at a distance of 1.5 million km from Earth, is designed to look into the years of our universe’s youth. The telescope will look into the sky with the help of infrared sensors and these will be amazing pictures in terms of detail, as can be seen from the first test images. How good are these pictures? clearly shown astronomers by comparing the image from “James Webb” with two images of past years.
Image Source: Andras Gaspar
Test image from the James Webb telescope (pictured right) received from a MIRI camera in the near infrared range (works with wavelengths from 4.6 to 28.6 microns). The image shows the Larger Magellanic Cloud, a satellite of our Milky Way galaxy. In the image above, from left to right, the 40cm Wide Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) Space Telescope, launched in 2009, and the 85cm Spitzer Space Telescope, launched into orbit in 2003, can be seen photographing the same area of the sky.
The aperture of the James Webb telescope is 6.5 meters, which is many times greater than all previous infrared telescopes. The difference, as they say, is visible to the naked eye. The James Webb crew are themselves stunned by the resolution and clarity of the images, which exceeded all wildest expectations. And this is true, since it was possible to fully understand the optical capabilities of the telescope only in real conditions. Vacuum and temperature tests of the telescope were carried out on Earth, but it was absolutely impossible to exclude gravity and vibration from the tests. But in space, “James Webb” revealed and even increased its full potential.
The first scientific images of “James Webb” will begin to receive from July this year. At the moment, the telescope team has begun commissioning the scientific instruments of the telescope – two cameras and two spectrometers. NASA will devote a special briefing on May 9 to this chapter in setting up the observatory, during which it will share work plans.
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