![]() Over the course of several weeks, it needs to unfurl its various components, from its sunshield to its mirrors. The telescope is so large it needed to launch folded up inside a rocket. On its journey, the telescope has to complete a difficult mechanical maneuver: assembling itself. Now the telescope is on its way to a point nearly a million miles away from the Earth. On Christmas, NASA launched the Webb from French Guiana in partnership with the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. These are not the plot of a new science fiction movie, but the mission objectives of the James Webb Space Telescope, the long-awaited successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. Understanding the origins of the universe. Thankfully, Webb's first images came back crystal clear.Ĭheck back on and the FOX Weather app on July 12 to see the images everyone will be talking about.Exploring strange new worlds. The James Webb Space Telescope observatory is about 1 million miles from Earth, meaning a repair mission would be out of the question. NASA astronauts conducted several spacewalks to repair a flaw in Hubble's primary mirror after the first images came back blurry.ĬLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX WEATHER UPDATE PODCAST Its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, continues to operate after more than 30 years in orbit about 300 miles above Earth. JWST mission managers say the telescope has enough fuel to continue operations for several decades because of the precise launch trajectory. Finally, the compact galaxy group Stephan's Quintet, located in the Pegasus constellation, and a galaxy cluster known as SMACX 0723 will test the observatory's deep field view capabilities. The Southern Ring Nebula, an expanding cloud of gas surrounding a dying star, will also be featured in JWST's first data release. The first color images by James Webb Space Telescope include the largest and brightest nebulae in the universe, the Carina Nebula, located 7,600 light-years away, and WASP-96 b, a gas exoplanet about 1,150 light-years away from Earth. According to the space agency, the objects were chosen by an international committee with representatives from NASA, ESA, CSA and the Space Telescope Science Institute. "Spitzer taught us a lot, but this is like a whole new world, just unbelievably beautiful," Webb's Near-Infrared Camera principal investigator Marcia Rieke said in May.Īhead of the big reveal, NASA released a list of the cosmic targets for Webb's first images. JULY'S FULL BUCK MOON WILL BE BRIGHTEST SUPERMOON OF THE YEAR (Image credit: NASA/ESA/CSA/STScI Spitzer: NASA/JPL-Caltech) ![]() The Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy fo the Milky Way, is first shown in images taken by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope and then in infrared images by the James Webb Space Telescope. The image below shows the same view taken by NASA's now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope's Infrared Array Camera and then by Webb's MIRI. Then in May, the Webb science team shared an image of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, used to test the telescope's Mid-Infrared Instrument or MIRI. Still, even though the star was a hundred times fainter than the light a human eye could see, it was blindingly bright to Webb and a testament to the telescope's sensitivity. Webb's team didn't choose the star called 2MASS J17554042+655127 for any scientific reason, explained NASA Webb operations scientist Jane Rigby. In April, the space agency and its telescope partners released the first image taken after completing "fine phasing" aligning the Optical Telescope Element. 'NAILED IT': JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE'S FIRST IMAGE IS SOMETHING TO CELEBRATE James Webb Space Telescope's mirrors aligned and sent back the first crisp image of a star. James Webb Space Telescope sends back first photo ![]()
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