NASA's James Webb Space Telescope captures test image of star and ancient galaxies
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope captures test image of star and ancient galaxies
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope completed its mirror alignment perfectly and according to the space agency, it was able to take a test shot of the surroundings. The image, which was released by NASA, was taken with the help of the 21.3-foot-wide (6.5 meters) mirror composed of 18 hexagonal segments and the officials believed that the technology hasworked "better than expected".
The test shot, which was taken around 1.6 million kilometres away from earth, was proof that the mirrors on the telescope worked perfectly and over a month after taking its position at the second Lagrange Point (L2), this was the first time that it was able to take a test shot of star HD 84406.
The shape of the mirrors and filters made the star look red and spiky and the image also captured a number of galaxies around the star. “You can’t help but see those thousands of galaxies behind it, really gorgeous,” said Jane Rigby, Webb operations project scientist according to AFP.
“Those galaxies are several billions of years old. Eventually, scientists hope Webb will see so far away and back in time that it will only be “a couple hundred million years after the Big Bang,” she added.
The alignment of the mirrors was an important achievement for the James Webb Space Telescope and NASA confirmed that no critical issues were found when it comes to its optical path.
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“More than 20 years ago, the Webb team set out to build the most powerful telescope that anyone has ever put in space and came up with an audacious optical design to meet demanding science goals. Today we can say that design is going to deliver,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate according to AFP.
“We have fully aligned and focused the telescope on a star, and the performance is beating specifications. We are excited about what this means for science,” said Ritva Keski-Kuha, deputy optical telescope element manager for Webb.
(With inputs from agencies)