The world’s biggest, mosteffectivespace telescope reached its finalvacation spot 1 million miles from Earth on Monday, a month after it lifted off on a quest to behold the dawn of the universe.
On command, the James Webb Space Telescope fired its rocket thrusters for nearly5minutesto enter orbit across thesun at its exact spot, and NASA confirmed the operation went as planned.
The mirrors on the $10 billion observatories stillshould be meticulously aligned and the infrared detectors sufficiently chilled earlier thantechnological know-how observations can start in June. but flight controllers in Baltimore have been euphoric after chalking up any otherachievement.
“We’re one step in the direction of uncovering the mysteries of the universe. And I can't wait to look at Webb's first new perspectives of the universe this summer!” NASA Administrator invoice Nelson said in an assertion.
The telescope will allow astronomers to seebackfurther in time than ever before, all thewayback to whenthe first stars and galaxies were forming thirteen.7 billion years ago. That’s a mereone hundred million years from the Big Bang when the universe turned into created.
except making stellar observations, Webb will scan the atmospheres of alien worlds for feasiblesymptoms of existence.
The high-flying drama started within days of liftoff.
A sun shield as big as a tennis court docket stretched open at the telescope in early January, 1 half weeks after the Christmas Day release from French Guiana. The observatory’s gold-coveredreplica — 21 feet (6.5 meters) throughout — opened upa few days later.
Monday’s thruster firing positioned the telescope into orbit across thesunon the so-called second Lagrange point, wherein the gravitational forces of the sun and Earth balance. The 7-ton spacecraft continually faces Earth’s nighttimeaspect to maintain its infrared detectors as frigid as feasible.
At 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) away, Webb is greater than fourinstances as remoteas the moon. considered the successor to the Hubble area Telescope, which orbits 330 miles (530 kilometers) up, Webb is simply toofar away for emergency upkeep. That makes the milestones during the last month — and the onesbeforehand — all themorevital.
Spacewalking astronauts performedsurgical operations on5instances on Hubble. The primary operation, in 1993, corrected the telescope’s blurry vision, a flaw deliveredduring the reflector'screationon theground
You must be logged in to post a comment.