Brussels Reporter
  • Home
  • Brussels
  • Europe
    • Europe

      Thousands of football fans eagerly await the Champions…

      May 27, 2022May 28, 2022

      Europe

      Solidarity, gratitude, bitterness, resentment: the Ukrainian refugee crisis…

      May 27, 2022May 27, 2022

      Europe

      ABBA return to the stage as digital versions…

      May 27, 2022May 27, 2022

      Europe

      Poland’s parliament partially rolls back judicial changes to…

      May 27, 2022

      Europe

      Hungary could hold up new EU sanctions against…

      May 26, 2022May 27, 2022

  • Globe
  • Lifestyle
  • Business

Brussels Reporter

  • Home
  • Brussels
  • Europe
    • Europe

      Thousands of football fans eagerly await the Champions…

      May 27, 2022May 28, 2022

      Europe

      Solidarity, gratitude, bitterness, resentment: the Ukrainian refugee crisis…

      May 27, 2022May 27, 2022

      Europe

      ABBA return to the stage as digital versions…

      May 27, 2022May 27, 2022

      Europe

      Poland’s parliament partially rolls back judicial changes to…

      May 27, 2022

      Europe

      Hungary could hold up new EU sanctions against…

      May 26, 2022May 27, 2022

  • Globe
  • Lifestyle
  • Business
Home Europe James Webb Space Telescope reaches observation post a million miles from Earth
Europe

James Webb Space Telescope reaches observation post a million miles from Earth

by editor January 25, 2022January 25, 2022
January 25, 2022January 25, 2022

The world’s biggest, most powerful space telescope arrived at its observation post one million miles from Earth on Monday, a month after it lifted off on a quest to behold the dawn of the universe.

On command, the James Webb Space Telescope fired its rocket thrusters for nearly five minutes to go into orbit around the sun at its designated location, and NASA confirmed the operation went as planned.

The mirrors on the $10 billion observatory still must be meticulously aligned, the infrared detectors sufficiently chilled and the scientific instruments calibrated before observations can begin in June.

But flight controllers in Baltimore were euphoric after chalking up another success.

“We’re one step closer to uncovering the mysteries of the universe. And I can’t wait to see Webb’s first new views of the universe this summer!” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement.

The telescope will enable astronomers to peer back further in time than ever before, all the way back to when the first stars and galaxies were forming 13.7 billion years ago. That’s a mere 100 million years from the Big Bang, when the universe was created.

Besides making stellar observations, Webb will scan the atmospheres of alien worlds for possible signs of life.

“Webb is officially on station,” said Keith Parrish, a manager on the project. “This is just capping off just a remarkable 30 days.”

The telescope was launched from French Guiana at Christmas. A week and a half later, a sunshield as big as a tennis court stretched open on the telescope. The instrument’s gold-coated primary mirror — 21 feet (6.5 meters) across — unfolded a few days later.

The primary mirror has 18 hexagonal segments, each the size of a coffee table, that will have to be painstakingly aligned so that they see as one — a task that will take three months.

“We’re a month in and the baby hasn’t even opened its eyes yet,” Jane Rigby, the operations project scientist, said of the telescope’s infrared instruments. “But that’s the science that we’re looking forward to.”

Monday’s thruster firing put the telescope in orbit around the sun at the so-called second Lagrange point, where the gravitational forces of the sun and Earth balance each other. The 7-ton spacecraft will loop-de-loop around that point while also circling the sun. It will always face Earth’s night side to keep its infrared detectors as frigid as possible.

At 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers) away, Webb is more than four times as distant as the moon.

The Webb is expected to operate for well over a decade, maybe two.

Considered the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, which orbits 330 miles (530 kilometers) up, Webb is too far away for emergency repairs. That makes the milestones over the past month — and the ones ahead — all the more critical.

Spacewalking astronauts performed surgery five times on Hubble. The first operation, in 1993, corrected the telescope’s blurry vision, a flaw introduced during the mirror’s construction on the ground.

Whether chasing optical and ultraviolet light like Hubble or infrared light like Webb, telescopes can see farther and more clearly when operating above Earth’s distorting atmosphere. That’s why NASA teamed up with the European and Canadian space agencies to get Webb and its mirror — the largest ever launched — into the cosmos.

Source link

previous post
Portugal’s snap election: Why now? Who leads the polls? Why does it matter?
next post
Covid: Netherlands to ease restrictions despite rising case numbers

Related Posts

Target Germany if you want Russia gas ban,...

May 10, 2022

Italy reports two deaths from coronavirus as outbreak...

February 22, 2020

Russians living in Ukraine on their ‘rage, shame...

March 14, 2022

Cali zoo animals receive gifts to celebrate Christmas

December 21, 2021

Coronavirus latest: Wear mask in public, WHO’s new...

June 6, 2020

Clashes at Dakar protest against anti-terror

June 26, 2021

Coronavirus cases on the rise in England for...

July 31, 2020

US climate envoy John Kerry kicks off Europe...

March 9, 2021

Boris Johnson heralds ‘recaptured sovereignty’ after Brexit

February 2, 2020

Chick Corea, Grammy-winning jazz pianist, dies aged 79

February 11, 2021
Promotion Image

Recent Posts

  • Uvalde shooting: In the face of tragedy, a Texas town turns to prayer
  • Thousands of football fans eagerly await the Champions League Final as Ancelotti’s men face the Reds
  • Solidarity, gratitude, bitterness, resentment: the Ukrainian refugee crisis is getting complicated
  • Johnny Depp: Closing arguments in Amber Heard defamation trial begin
  • ABBA return to the stage as digital versions of themselves
Promotion Image

GO!

Lifestyle

  • Scientists are using satellites to count elephants from space for the first time

  • France: Hospital workers demand more resources to fight COVID-19

  • Alexei Navalny: Millions watch jailed critic's 'Putin palace' film

  • Covid vaccine: WHO warns of ‘catastrophic moral failure’

  • Belgium looks good in white

Popular Posts

  • 1

    In France, Emmanuel Macron calls for new rules to halt migrant flows

    February 3, 2022
  • 2

    Greece lockdown measures lift allowing schools and courts to reopen

    May 10, 2021
  • 3

    Ukraine conflict: Russia's Kharkiv attacks are war crimes, says Zelensky

    March 1, 2022

Editor’s Choices

  • Sociopath ING or a blockchain of corruption from a well-known financial group

    May 24, 2021
  • Pfizer, AstraZeneca COVID jabs ‘highly effective’ against India variant, study shows

    May 23, 2021
  • G20 leaders at Rome summit pledge more vaccines for poorer countries

    May 21, 2021

Opinions

  • Poland’s parliament partially rolls back judicial changes to get EU cash

    May 27, 2022
  • Death of globalization? — EU expansion — Women in Davos

    May 26, 2022
  • Russian oil sanctions — Stagflation fears — Crypto not dead

    May 25, 2022

@2018-2021 - Brussels Reporter (www.brusselsreporter.com). All Right Reserved.