In less than a week now, the first images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope will finally be unveiled. To make us wait, NASA is today publishing a snapshot taken by the pointing sensor of the instrument. Quite simply one of the deepest in the Universe in infrared ever obtained.
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[EN VIDÉO] Understand the James Webb Space Telescope mission in one minute The James Webb Space Telescope, a new flagship in space observation, will be launched on December 18 from Kourou, Guyana. After a journey of 29 days, it will reach the Lagrange point L2, in the opposite direction to the Sun. With its mirror larger than that of Hubble, of which it is considered the successor, the JWST will be able to observe galaxies, planets, nebulae and stars to learn more about the history of the Universe.
Revolutionaries. This is the term used by NASA to describe the first images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). To judge for ourselves, we will have to wait a few more days. Until July 12. Also, to help us wait, the Nasa today unveils an image that is already a little crazy. One of the most profound images ofUniverse in infrared never obtained. An image taken… by a sensor score from the JWST!
This scoring sensor — which teams call the Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) — is intended to provide accurate pointing of observation targets from the space telescope. And the images he takes were not meant to be kept. But during a test last May, the engineers realized that it was finally possible.
A pointing sensor even more useful than expected
The image — the result of 72 exposures over 32 hours, all the same — is not intended to be exploited scientifically speaking. But she is still stunning. We see, in the foreground, stars — the brighter ones saturate the detectors and appear as black dots — and their diffraction. And in the background, a host of galaxies. Whose structure we discover in a fairly detailed way. This suggests that the images from the JWST pointing sensor could, in addition to other observations, ultimately also be of scientific use.
The FGS is indeed the only instrument that will be used during each observation of the James Webb Space Telescope, throughout its lifetime. It will guide each of them towards its target and maintain the James-Webb with the precision necessary to produce images… revolutionary!
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