The US Aviation and Space Agency reported that the tennis court-sized Sun shield of the James Webb Space Telescope has fully opened.
The 21-metre-long kite-shaped apparatus acts as an umbrella, keeping the telescope’s instruments in the shade.
In this way, weak infrared signals from distant points can be detected.
A total of 5 layers in the sun shield were opened one by one over the course of two days. The layers work together to provide an SPF (Sun protection factor) of 1 million.
James Webb has two primary scientific missions that will account for more than 50 percent of his observation time. First, it will look just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang and explore the early stages of cosmic history. How the first stars and galaxies formed and how they evolved over time will be observed.
The second major goal is the discovery of exoplanets, meaning planets outside the solar system. In addition, the atmospheres of these planets will be studied and the potential for life will be investigated.
With James Webb, images will be obtained from the far corners of the universe that could not be observed before.
Because the James Webb Telescope, thanks to its advanced optical equipment, will be able to examine the state of the universe 200 million years after the “Big Bang”, which caused the formation of the universe approximately 13.7 billion years ago.
The space telescope will use state-of-the-art instruments and a massive mirror to see the glow of the first stars to shine in the universe.
James Webb will also have the ability to analyze whether the atmospheres of many of the new planets discovered are suitable for life.
Unlike James Webb Hubble, it will orbit around the Sun 1.6 million kilometers from Earth.
The Hubble Space Telescope, with its 2.4 meter wide mirror, has been making space observations in Earth orbit since 1990.
Too close to the location
NASA relayed the latest developments in James Webb. It is stated that the telescope is very close to the L2 location, 1.5 million kilometers away.
If the voyage goes as planned, James Webb will take office from January 24.
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