Although Spitzer (launched 2003) was earlier than WISE (launched 2009), it had a larger mirror and a narrower field-of-view. Even the very first JWST image at comparable wavelengths, shown alongside them, can resolve the same features in the same region to an unprecedented precision. This is a preview of the science we’ll get. (Credit: NASA and WISE/SSC/IRAC/STScI, compiled by Andras Gaspar)
How the James Webb Space Telescope beat all expectations
It was supposed to have a 5.5–10 year lifetime, and take 6 months to calibrate. It’s performing better than anyone anticipated.
On December 25, 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope rocketed into space.
On December 25, 2021, the James Webb Space Telescope launched successfully into orbit from an Ariane 5 rocket. Rocketry has been the only way we’ve ever successfully propelled a spacecraft any substantial distances through space. (Credit: ESA-CNES-ArianeSpace/Optique Vidéo du CSG/NASA TV)
The plan envisioned six months of deployment, cooling, and calibration.
The secondary mirror’s deployment sequence is shown in this time lapse image. It must be precisely located just under 24 feet, or a little over 7 meters, from the primary mirror. This was one of a few hundred steps that needed to occur as planned, without failure, to bring a fully functional JWST online. (Credit: NASA/James Webb Space Telescope team)
Afterwards, science operations would commence, yielding a 5-to-10 year anticipated lifetime.
When all the optics are properly deployed and the telescope is fully calibrated, James Webb should be able to view any object beyond Earth’s orbit in the cosmos to unprecedented precision, with its primary and secondary mirrors focusing the light onto the instruments, where data can be taken, reduced, and sent back to Earth. (Credit: NASA/James Webb Space Telescope team)
This image shows the 18 individual segments that make up James Webb’s primary mirror, and the three independent sets of mirrors, labeled with letters A, B, and C and numbers 1–6, that correspond to the installed position of each mirror on the currently deployed telescope. (Credit: NASA/James Webb Space Telescope team)
The Universe is: Expanding, cooling, and dark. It starts with a bang! #Cosmology Science writer, astrophysicist, science communicator & NASA columnist.
