Scientists who are working on NASA’s James Webb Telescope have reached an important milestone. The telescope’s huge mirrors are now perfectly aligned. The team can now proceed with configuring the onboard equipment and preparing them to begin capturing sharp and in-focus photographs of the cosmos as a result of their accomplishment.
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) completed the deployment of its set of 18 mirrors in January, which will be used to direct light from cosmic objects onto its equipment for image collection. But in order to do so, the mirrors had to be perfectly aligned over a three-month period so that the light would be focused the right way.
The mirrors were brought into alignment with the telescope’s primary imaging instrument, the Near-Infrared Camera, in March, allowing it to focus and capture a clear image of a bright star.
The crew then proceeded to align the mirrors with the JWST’s remaining instruments, the Near-Infrared Spectrograph, Mid-Infrared Instrument, Near-Infrared Imager, and Slitless Spectrograph, a process that is now completed.
The crew confirmed that the mirrors were positioned and directing light onto the JWST’s four instruments by taking a series of test photos covering the telescope’s entire field of view, as seen below. According to the scientists, the telescope’s optical performance continues to exceed even their most optimistic forecasts.
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“These amazing test photos from a successfully aligned telescope show what individuals from all over the world can accomplish when they have a strong scientific ambition to explore the universe,” said Lee Feinberg, Webb optical telescope element manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
The scientists are now turning their attention to commissioning the science instruments, with the mirrors now in place (except for some minor periodic modifications here and there).
The unique lenses, masks, filters, and other equipment that make these very sophisticated instruments tick will need to be carefully configured over the next two months in order to prepare the telescope for the start of science operations in the middle of the year.
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“With the completion of telescope alignment and half a lifetime’s worth of effort, my role on the James Webb Space Telescope mission has come to a conclusion,” said Scott Acton, Webb wavefront sensing and controls scientist, Ball Aerospace. The way I see the world has changed a lot because of these pictures. There are galaxies all around us, and we are surrounded by them. Everyone should be able to see them.
The video below gives a general overview of the achievement.
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