James Webb Telescope

Scientists and engineers have begun to assemble and test the James Webb Space Telescope. One of the engineers that prepare and clean the mirrors for the telescope described it as an operation. Going into suit and taking an air shower are required in order to go into the room with the telescope. The telescope will use four main instruments to detect light from distant galaxies and celestial bodies. The Near InfraRed Camera, provided by the University of Arizona, will be detecting the earliest galaxies and stars. The Near InfraRed Spectrograph, from the European Space Agency, can analyze the spectrum of a hundred objects simultaneously and will assist in studying the temperature, mass, and chemical components of celestial bodies. The Mid-InfraRed instrument will be used to detect distant galaxies and newly formed stars. And the Fine Guidance Sensor/Near InfraRed Imager and Slitless Spectograph will allow the telescope to point accurately and take high definition images of planets outside the solar system. The primary mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope is 6.5 meters in diameter and made up of 18 Beryllium segments that are gold coated to help capture most of the infrared light. Although the European Space Agency created three of the four components, NASA has to assemble and test the telescope to see if it can withstand the environment of space. They simulate it using cryogenics in order to see how the mirrors and instruments withstand. The budget of the telescope is 8 billion, and it will replace the Hubble telescope, which scientists expect to retire somewhere around 2020. The telescope will be positioned at the L2 Lagrange point, nearly four times the distance from the Earth to the Moon and it will orbit the Sun. The mission will pick up where Hubble will leave off. The size of the Webb telescope is much larger than Hubble. Which is the size of a school bus. While the Webb telescope is about the size of a Boeing 737 jet. And since the Hubble's primary mirror is at 2.4 meters in diameter, there will be much more light gathered by Webb. The larger the mirror, the better the images. Using its robust mirrors, scientists will be able to study galaxies that formed right after the big band, the process of stellar and planetary formation, and even the composition of planets to see if they are capable of hosting life.
The launching of the telescope in 2018 is going to be difficult however, since it will need to pass cryogenic tests and be able to fold its components in the rocket.The primary mirror weighs six metric tons, and will spend one week in aligning its mirrors after a six month commissioning period as it goes into outer space. And after this has been completed, the telescope will be handed over to astronomers with the best proposals. Much like the committee for Hubble. I personally cannot wait to see what objects and mysteries will be seen and solved with this telescope. Heralding a new era of research for astronomers.
Source