This sensor helps keep the telescope pointing steadily at a target – much like image stabilization in consumer digital cameras. Webb’s Fine Guidance Sensor also went into operation at this time.
These images showed that the mirror segments were all pointing at a relatively small area of the sky, and the alignment was much better than the worst-case scenarios we had planned for. The NIRCam team was ecstatic when the first light image arrived. Once NIRCam cooled to minus 280 F, it was cold enough to start detecting light reflecting off of Webb’s mirror segments and produce the telescope’s first images. But before it could do that, NIRCam had to help align the 18 individual segments of Webb’s mirror. NIRCam is designed to study the faint infrared light produced by the oldest stars or galaxies in the universe. The cameras on Webb cooled just as the engineers predicted, and the first instrument the team turned on was the Near Infrared Camera – or NIRCam. NASA Goddard Space Center/Wikimedia Commons What did you test first? The NIRCam on Webb was the first instrument to go online and helped align the 18 mirror segments. Once the sun shield was open, our team began monitoring the temperatures of the four cameras and spectrometers onboard, waiting for them to reach temperatures low enough so that we could start testing each of the 17 different modes in which the instruments can operate. WATCH: Biden offers first peek of historic image from James Webb Space Telescope This went along without any hitches, starting with the white-knuckle deployment of the sun shield that helps cool the telescope, followed by the alignment of the mirrors and the turning on of sensors. The first task during Webb’s monthlong journey to its final location in orbit was to unfold the telescope. This will allow Webb to operate for much longer than the mission’s initial 10-year goal. One of the first things my colleagues at NASA noticed was that the telescope had more remaining fuel onboard than predicted to make future adjustments to its orbit. The launch went as smoothly as a rocket launch can go.
25, 2021, the team began the long process of moving the telescope into its final orbital position, unfolding the telescope and – as everything cooled – calibrating the cameras and sensors onboard. READ MORE: Here’s the deepest, clearest infrared image of the universe ever produced What’s happened since the telescope launched?Īfter the successful launch of the James Webb Space Telescope on Dec. Marcia Rieke, an astronomer at the University of Arizona and the scientist in charge of one of Webb’s four cameras, explains what she and her colleagues have been doing to get this telescope up and running. They mark the beginning of the next era in astronomy as Webb – the largest space telescope ever built – offers scientific data that will help answer questions about the earliest moments of the universe and allow astronomers to study exoplanets in greater detail than ever before.īut it has taken nearly eight months of travel, setup, testing and calibration to make sure this most valuable of telescopes is ready for prime time. That you include a small copyright notice in a corner of yourĮthics statement: APOD accepts composited or digitally manipulated images, but requires them to be identified as such and to have the techniques used described in a straightforward, honest and complete way.NASA released some of the very first images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope on July 12, 2022. Some of these, like Facebook, carry advertising. Please note that by submitting your image to APOD, you areĬonsenting for your image to be used on APOD in all of its formsĪnd APOD on social fan pages as listed on the To judge relative popularity - which is only one of many decision criteria. Make an effort to see all images submitted to them by email.Īdditionally, you are welcome to post your image in the APOD discussion Please tell usĪbout the image including the time and location it was taken. To submit an image, please use this mailto link:Īnd attach the image or include the image URL. The editors Robert Nemiroff and Jerry Bonnell. Images can be submitted to Astronomy Picture of the Day by email to
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