jwst

James Webb Space Telescope has sent back its clearest image yet

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A crucial phase of mirror alignment has been completed for the James Webb Space Telescope, and the process resulted in the highest resolution infrared image ever taken from space Space 16 March 2022 By Leah Crane The James Webb Space Telescope focused on this bright star to align its mirrors NASA/STScI The James Webb Space … Read more

JWST: James Webb Space Telescope just sent back its first image – of itself

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NASA engineers working to align the 18 hexagonal mirrors of the James Webb Space Telescope have released its first pictures. One shows the same star appearing 18 times, while a camera also took a ‘selfie’ of the mirrors Space 11 February 2022 By Leah Crane A selfie taken by a camera onboard the James Webb … Read more

JWST: The James Webb Space Telescope has arrived at its final destination

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By Leah Crane An artist’s impression of the James Webb Space Telescope ESA/ATG medialab One month after its launch, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has arrived at its new home. On 24 January, the spacecraft fired its thrusters for about five minutes to place it into its final orbit, and now it’s ready to … Read more

JWST: James Webb Space Telescope has finished unfolding its massive mirror

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The space telescope has successfully completed a series of crucial steps to achieve full deployment, and will now continue to its final destination 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth Space 10 January 2022 By Alex Wilkins An artist’s impression of the full deployed James Webb Space Telescope NASA GSFC/CIL/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez The James Webb Space … Read more

In a Truly Historic Milestone, JWST Has Been Successfully Deployed! Now What?

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We can all let out a collective sigh of relief. With its primary mirror array fully unfolded, the major components of the beleaguered James Webb Space Telescope are now deployed, and it continues to calmly make its way to its destination.   The deployment, completed on 8 January 2022, marks a pretty important milestone for … Read more

JWST: James Webb Space Telescope is carrying out its most critical manoeuvre

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The massive space telescope, which launched on Christmas Day, is in the process of deploying its sunshield. If anything goes wrong, it could endanger the entire mission Space 4 January 2022 By Alex Wilkins A final glimpse of the James Webb Space Telescope Arianespace, ESA, NASA, CSA, CNES After a nail-biting launch on Christmas Day, … Read more

There Was a Major Unexpected Benefit to James Webb’s Christmas Launch

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After a detailed analysis of where the James Webb Space Telescope is now (29 December 2021) and how it got there, NASA determined the observatory should have enough propellant to operate in space for significantly more than 10 years in space.   Webb’s mission lifetime was designed to be at least 5-1/2 years, and mission … Read more

JWST: The James Webb Space Telescope is finally on its way into orbit

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After numerous delays, the biggest space telescope ever has blasted off on Christmas Day, and will begin its science mission in mid 2022 Space 25 December 2021 By Leah Crane The James Webb Space Telescope sits atop an Ariane 5 rocket on the launchpad in French Guiana on 23 December P PIRON/ESA/CNES/Arianespa​ce The James Webb … Read more

5 Out-of-This-World Telescope Photos of Space to Get You Excited For The JWST Launch

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The forthcoming launch of the James Webb Space Telescope offers unprecedented new opportunities for astronomers. It’s also a timely opportunity to reflect on what previous generations of telescopes have shown us.   Astronomers rarely use their telescopes to simply take pictures. The pictures in astrophysics are usually generated by a process of scientific inference and … Read more