Finally! James Webb Space Telescope reached its alignment. In addition to this, NASA has simple tool to track the said telescope.
James Webb Space Telescope Alignment Has Begun
In the recent post of NASA, the three-month alignment procedure began this week, and Webb team members observed the first photons of starlight that went through the entire telescope and were identified by the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) sensor over the last day.
This is the first of many phases in the process of capturing photos that are initially unfocused and using them to perfect the telescope over time. Although the procedure is still in its early stages, the preliminary results are consistent with expectations and simulations.
The data collected with NIRCam will now be used by a team of engineers and scientists from Ball Aerospace, the Space Telescope Science Institute, and NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to gradually align the telescope.
To further emphasize the said alignment, James Webb Space Telescope website wrote that the installation of the telescope is complete, adding that Webb has entered orbit around L2. The cooling process continues, and the instrument is eventually turned on, tested, and calibrated. Telescope mirror alignment and calibration also commence as temperatures fall into range and instruments are activated.
Once the sunshield was deployed, the telescope and scientific instruments began to cool quickly in the shadow, but it will take several weeks for them to reach stable operating temperatures.
With the help of strategically positioned electric heater strips, this cooldown will be strictly controlled.
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Moreover, over the next three months, the operation will be separated into seven parts, culminating in a completely aligned telescope ready for instrument commissioning. Webb's photographs from this time period will not be as "beautiful" as the new views of the universe, Webb will unveil later this summer. They are solely for the aim of getting the telescope ready for science.
The steps in the commissioning process include Segment Image Identification, Segment Alignment, Image Stacking, Coarse Phasing, Fine Phasing, Telescope Alignment Over Instrument Fields of View, and Iterate Alignment for Final Correction.
To work together as a single mirror, the telescope's 18 primary mirror segments need to match each other to a fraction of a wavelength of light - around 50 nanometers.
To put this in perspective, if the Webb primary mirror were the size of the United States, each segment would be the size of Texas, and the team would have to align the heights of those Texas-sized segments to within 1.5 inches of each other.
Simple Tool To Track James Webb Space Telescope
Nasa's online "Where is Webb?" tool allows people to keep track of the James Webb Space Telescope's current progress.
It provides real-time updates on a variety of statistics, including the craft's current distance from Earth and cruise speed, as well as the percentage of its journey accomplished thus far, per iNews.
People may also find out about the current stage of its deployment and examine each stage of its mission as it approaches orbit.
Related Article: James Webb Space Telescope Reaches Final Destination: Now Orbiting Around Earth-Sun Lagrange Point
