With each new piece of news from the James Webb Space Telescope, which was sent into the depths of space on December 24, 2021 to shed light on the past and secrets of the universe, we are one step closer to the start of its scientific operations. The first star photo came from Webb, who has been busy aligning his huge golden mirrors since reaching the observation point, and the fact that the image was quite good, although the alignment of the mirrors was not finished yet, excited the space enthusiasts.
In the first photo, as the alignment of the mirrors was not completed yet, an image appeared that actually belonged to a single star but looked like 18 different points. With the new image recently shared by NASA, it was observed that the telescope can now see the same star as a whole instead of 18 different parts.
Almost half of the alignment of the telescope’s mirrors is complete
The new image from Webb shows that the telescope’s 18 mirrors are almost perfectly aligned, all pointing at the same target.
NASA said on Friday that the James Webb Space Telescope team has “successfully tuned in the second and third of a total of seven phases”; that is, roughly half of the mirror alignment process is complete. That means Webb is now closer than ever before to creating a single incredibly high-resolution image of a star, a possibility scientists have been looking forward to for decades.
Telescope still has a long way to go
However, this development does not change the fact that the Webb team still has a long way to go.
“We still have work to do, but we are increasingly satisfied with the results we are seeing,” said Lee Feinberg, the telescope’s optical telescope element manager. Couldn’t be more excited to see it.” he adds.
When we think that such successful results have been achieved even at the beginning of the road, it is impossible not to get excited about the images that the telescope will send in the future. So, what do you think about this journey of Webb? Share your views with us.
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