As the universe expands, the light of these first stars has been stretched as it travels towards us, shifting it from more energetic waves of ultraviolet or visible light into the red end of the electromagnetic spectrum. The very first chapter in the universe’s history has previously been hard to study because the only way we are able to learn about it is through light. “The big questions that James Webb aims to answer are all about our origins and our place in the universe: Are we unique? Is our Earth unique? Is the Milky Way unique? What are our origins?” James Webb will also reveal what elements are in the atmospheres around extrasolar planets. We will measure how the elements responsible for life: oxygen, carbon, and nitrogen, formed and evolved across 13 billion years of cosmic time. “We will obtain an unprecedented picture of how galaxies like our Milky Way formed and evolved.
“Through deep observations, James Webb will reveal the very first galaxies formed in the infant universe and how those galaxies evolved across 13 billion years of cosmic time,” explains Lisa Kewley, director of ASTRO 3D from the Australian National University. JWST has been purposefully designed to answer these questions and more. It will be able to watch the first stars and galaxies flicker on, probing the mysterious processes that took the universe from its dark ages and thrust us into the era of light.Īstronomers have had burning questions about this early era of the universe for decades – for example, what were those first stars like? How did magnetism and turbulence play a role in triggering the first stars to be born? How did black holes first form, start to grow and become the hearts of galaxies? With a massive mirror and the ability to see light at the infrared part of the spectrum, it can peer back billions of years through history to capture the faint, red-shifted light from the very beginning of the universe. The most exciting thing about the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is its promise to revolutionise infrared astronomy. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn Rewriting cosmic history Webb’s mirrors are covered in a microscopically thin layer of gold, which optimizes them for reflecting infrared light, which is the primary wavelength of light this telescope will observe.
The secondary mirror is the round mirror located at the end of the long booms, which are folded into their launch configuration. James Webb Space Telescope’s primary mirror at NASA Goddard. This isn’t just to look fancy – it actually optimises them for reflecting infrared light. This follows the recent deployment of the secondary mirror: a small, circular mirror which plays a vital role in reflecting light from the primary mirror to the instruments.īoth of these mirrors are covered in a microscopically thin layer of gold. But now they have successfully stretched out again. For launch, they were folded up into two “wings” to allow for the telescope to fit into the launch vehicle. The mirror is made up of strong, light hexagonal segments tessellated together. (The Hubble Space Telescope’s primary mirror is a mere 2.4m across.) The size heightens the sensitivity of the telescope – the larger the mirror area collecting light, the more details it can capture of a star or galaxy. The mirror is a whopping 6.5 metres in diameter, bigger than any mirror previously launched into space. The new James Webb Space Telescope passed another major milestone over the weekend, deploying its primary mirror – the crown jewel of this long-awaited observatory.
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