The James Webb Space Telescope sent out its first sharp images since reaching its target 1.5 million kilometers from Earth in late January. This means that the mirrors on the telescope are aligned and entering a new phase.
The telescope was pointed at one of the nearest galaxies, the Large Magellanic Cloud, for testing. Thousands of stars can be distinguished individually in photos. The telescope had already sent images before, but it was not completely clear yet.
Tests have shown that four instruments that analyze the light collected in the telescope can now produce sharp images. One of these instruments is the partly Dutch MIRI. “It was great to see the instrument work,” says Ewine van Dishoeck, professor of astronomy at Leiden University. NOS Radio 1 NewsI
“Just noise”
Van Dishoeck helped develop the tool, saying it was “exciting” to cool it down. “Our instrument also has to be cooler than the other three instruments on board. Because if MIRI wasn’t cold, we would only see noise in the photos.”
Therefore, individual stars can be clearly distinguished in photographs for the first time. Van Dishoeck: “But our MIRI sees even more. He also sees cloud dust among the stars. You can see this well in the first photo. It started beating a little faster.”
James Webb is the largest and most powerful space telescope of all time. The telescope collects light from stars and galaxies, enabling a 13-billion-year look back in time. A lot of testing still needs to be done before the first scientific results are expected this summer.
Source: NOS
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