The telescope is sensitive enough to pick up a bumblebee’s temperature at the Moon’s distance from Earth / NASA
The Ariane 5 rocket launched the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) a few hours ago. It surpasses the parameters of the Hubble Space Telescope, which it is intended to replace. Why is the new space exploration telescope so important?
Rocket Ariane 5 took off Friday morning from the spaceport in French Guiana. Web The Conversation gives several main reasons why thousands of engineers and scientists have high hopes for this project.
The James Webb Telescope (JWST) consists of a huge mirror with a diameter of 6.5 meters, which is composed of 18 gilded segments. This mirror is folded to fit into the cone of the top of the rocket.
JWST awaits its journey to L2, the ideal place to “park” space observatories due to the interplay between the gravity of the Earth, the Sun and the orbital motion of the spacecraft.
Experts describe it as the most expensive and risky astronomical project in human history. Ariane 5 does not fly around the Earth, sends the telescope directly to the target. He then awaits a total of 344 steps, which have been prepared for years. If something goes wrong, it will no longer be fixed. JWST will be too far.
JWST flies “back” to the Sun covered with a sun visor with the dimensions of a tennis court made of five layers of thin plastic. It is coated with light-reflecting aluminum and silicon to protect against asteroid impacts. The telescope then develops its mirror, segment by segment, which will need to be aligned, adjusted and focused to work as a whole.
The James Webb Space Telescope has capabilities that surpass anything we know so far. He will be able to open the gates to Hubble Space Telescope, too distant or cold worlds for us. In addition, JWST effectively detects infrared radiation.
According to experts, the telescope should be sensitive enough to capture the temperature of a bumblebee at a distance of the Moon from the Earth. Other scientists say JWST will write pages for future textbooks about space.
Source: ScienceAlert, The Conversation
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