The scientific instruments of the space telescope “James Webb” begin to explore the universe, after being aligned and reaching the appropriate operating temperature.
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The James Webb Space Telescope and Scientific Instruments
The James Webb Space Telescope, located 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, has completed the alignment phase of its scientific instruments, which began to work to explore the history of the universe, according to what the US space agency “NASA” announced.
The four massive instruments, three imaging devices and a spectrograph, were successfully aligned along the main mirror (6.5 m in diameter) whose deployment was achieved in early January, two weeks after the launch of James Webb from French Guiana.
“Each instrument has reached its operational temperature and is ready to perform its scientific missions,” NASA said in a statement.
While awaiting the first scientific observations images that are expected to be sent by “James Webb” in the summer, it turned out that the tools are capable of “taking clear and targeted images”, such as those taken by the “Miriam” imaging device for stars and gas in a large cloud belonging to the small planet Magellan within the Milky Way. .
Pierre-Olivier Lagag, the scientific officer for “Miriam” at the French Atomic and Alternative Energy Authority, said in a tweet on “Twitter” that “the first picture was amazing because it was the quality we wanted,” adding that “things are going well.”
“I’m pretty sure the science will go a long way with James Webb,” the astrophysicist added.
“These unique experimental images show what people across countries and continents can achieve when there is a brave scientific vision to explore the universe,” said Lee Feinberg, responsible for James Webb’s optical instruments at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
The James Webb, which cost NASA 10 billion dollars, is the most powerful telescope ever in the history of space exploration, and will allow observation of the first galaxies that formed approximately 200 million years after the Big Bang.