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James Webb Telescope Is Fully Aligned, Gears Up to Take Sharp Photos Of the Universe

The powerful James Webb Space Telescope is getting closer to its first scientific observation. The European Space Agency (ESA) and NASA have confirmed that the telescope is fully aligned and in focus. Now Webb can take "crisp, well-focused images" with its instruments.
Webb's mirrors are now fully aligned 10 photos
Photo: NASA/STScI
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This significant milestone was celebrated with a set of images that show Webb's instruments working accordingly. To test if they are ready to start delivering sharp images, scientists pointed the telescope toward a small galaxy of the Milky Way called the Large Magellanic Cloud, which contains hundreds of thousands of stars.

The pictures returned show well-focused stars in the field of view of each instrument. That demonstrates the light bounces off the telescope's mirrors into each instrument and that they are effectively capturing photos with the light that they receive.

The picture quality transmitted to all instruments is "diffraction-limited," which means that the level of detail visible is as good as it can get for the size of the telescope. Even so, the set of images has surpassed scientists' expectations. Since the mirrors are now fully aligned, only small modifications will be brought to Webb's main mirror segments.

And with this milestone, the giant observatory will move into its next forward into the instrument commissioning phase, which is the final step before the telescope begins its official operations. It's a process that should take around two months, which means Webb will be ready to make its first scientific observation in June.

Each one of its four instruments comes with a complex array of sensors, filters, and lenses that will play a significant role in returning high-quality photos. Their features will be configured and tested in various combinations throughout the instrument commissioning phase to ensure that they work properly. If everything goes accordingly, Webb will be able to peer into the past of the universe and observe some of the early galaxies formed after the Big Bang.

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About the author: Florina Spînu
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Florina taught herself how to drive in a Daewoo Tico (a rebadged Suzuki Alto kei car) but her first "real car" was a VW Golf. When she’s not writing about cars, drones or aircraft, Florina likes to read anything related to space exploration and take pictures in the middle of nature.
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