![]() ![]() In addition, "James Webb" was gently manoeuvred to its observation post, Lagrange Point L2. Its four scientific instruments are even colder, down to 267 degrees Celsius below zero. If one part had snagged, no one would have been able to intervene directly.ĭuring this first phase, which lasted about three months, the 21-metre telescope cooled down to its operating temperature of minus 230 degrees Celsius. For example, 107 bolts and springs were used for the sunshield, and the hexagonal beryllium segments of the main mirror were pushed into the correct positions to the nearest millionth of a millimetre by a total of more than a hundred small motors. The two most important structures literally had to unfold first: the five-layer solar shield the size of a tennis court and the main mirror consisting of 18 honeycombs with a diameter of six and a half metres.ĭuring unpacking, the engineers and technicians had to rely on all mechanical processes being precise and error-free. The James Webb Space Telescope was practically sent into space as a construction kit. He and his group in Heidelberg not only supplied components for the space telescope, but also intensively followed and accompanied the preparatory work over the past six months.įor the path from launch to a ready-to-use telescope was extremely complex. Oliver Krause calls them "single point failures". A telescope with a modular systemĪ lot could have gone wrong in the past six months: the experts had identified no fewer than 344 crucial sources of error before the launch on Christmas 2021. In this way, "James Webb" illuminates the early days of the universe. Because light takes time to travel through the cosmos, telescopes act like time machines: Observing celestial bodies at a great distance therefore always means looking into the past. ![]() These appear as if through a magnifying glass. The cluster of galaxies in the foreground focuses and distorts the light of the much more distant objects behind it. For example, it has set its sights on the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, which acts like a gravitational lens. The strengths of the new ten-billion-dollar observatory also lie in the depths of space. Both celestial objects belong to our Milky Way. While the former announces the death of a star, the latter resembles a cosmic delivery room in which hundreds of suns give birth. Previously unknown richness of detail and unique dynamics are also revealed in the images of the Southern Ring Nebula and the Carina Nebula. "Many astrophysical processes are reflected there, which can now be studied with unprecedented precision." In the photo, the surroundings of Stephan's quintet appear in a dramatic view. "The special thing is not only the clarity and sharpness of the image," says Oliver Krause. Gas swirls around and new stars are born all the time. ![]() The group of five, at a distance of 290 million light-years, is quite close together, and the members influence each other due to their gravity. Galaxies are the main motif in the image of Stephan's Quintet, an ensemble of five Milky Way systems discovered by the French astronomer Edouard Stephan in 1877 in the constellation Pegasus. ![]()
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