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Webb Telescope
Mar 16,2022
RELEASE
22-024
NASA's Webb Reaches Alignment
in
p
Milestone; Optics Working
Successfully
Lee esta nota de prensa en espaiol aqui:
Following the completion of critical mirror alignment steps, NASAs James Webb Space Telescope team expects
that Webb's optical performance will be able to meet or exceed the science goals the observatory was built to
achieve_
On March 11, the Webb team completed the stage of alignment known as "fine phasing." At this key stage in the
commissioning of Webb's
ptical Telescope Element, every optical parameter that has been checked and tested
is performing at;, or above; expe
ctations
The team also found no critical
ssues and no measurable contamination
or blockages to Webb's optical
The observatory is able to successfully gather light from distant objects and
1
deliver it to its instruments without issue_
Although there are months tO go before Webb ultimately
telescope Aligniemt Evaluatiom image
8
delivers its new view of the cosmos; achieving this
milestone means the team is confident that Webb s first-
of-its-kind optical system
working as well as possible
'More than 20 years ago, the Webb team set out to build
the most powerful telescope that anyone has ever put in
space and came up with an audacious optical design to
meet
demanding science goals
said Thomas
Zurbuchen;
associate administrator for NASA's Science
Mission Directorate in Washington
Today we can say
that design is going to deliver:'
While the pumpose of this
focus on the bright star
the center for alignment evaluation
Webb's optics and NIRCam
While some of the largest ground-based telescopes on
afe 50
sensitive that the galaxies and stars seen in the
Earth use segmented primary mirrors
Webb is the first
background shov up. At this stage of Webbls mirror alignment,
telescope in space to use such
design. The 21-foot,
known as "fine phasing
each of the primary mirror segments
have been adjusted
produce one unified image of the same
inch (6.5-meter) primary mirror
much tOO
big to fit inside
NIRCam
star using only the
instrument This image of the star
rocket fairing
is made up of 18 hexagonal, beryllium
which
called 2MASS J17554042-6551277 ,
Vses
red iilter t0
mirror segments. It had to be folded up for launch and
optimize visual contrast
then unfolded in space before each mirror was adjusted
Credits: NASAISTScl
to within nanometers
to form
single mirror surface_
"In addition to enabling the incredible science that Webb
ACten
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