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The mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope is undergoing final tests this month before being packaged up for launch. NASA/Chris Gunn
Next stop, space: NASA Webb telescope undergoes final tests
May. 11, 2021 , 4:15 PM
NASA engineers are getting one last look at the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST): a final test to show that its 18 gold-tinted mirror segments can unfold into a precise honeycomb configuration. After the test concludes this week, the giant instrument will be folded up, packed into a shipping container, and shipped off to French Guiana, where it will launch into space on 31 October.
The 6.5-meter-wide JWST is the agency’s next great observatory, the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. In a NASA briefing today, Program Scientist Eric Smith told reporters it was born out of a realization in the mid-1990s that, no matter how long it stared into deep space, Hubble would never be able to see the universe’s very first stars and galaxies and learn
UCF scientists among eager researchers awaiting James Webb Space Telescope launch
JWST launching in October from French Guiana
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The conclusion of this test represents the team’s final in a long series of checkpoints designed to ensure Webb’s 18 hexagonal mirrors are prepared for a long life of profound discovery.
(Credits: NASA/Chris Gunn) (Hasselblad H6D)
Decades of work is in the balance as NASA enters the final stages before shipping the powerful James Webb Space Telescope to the launch site in the French Guiana.
NASA and the telescope manufacture, Northrop Grumman, provided an update Tuesday on the next generation telescope, which is slated to launch on Oct. 31 onboard an Ariane 5 rocket. Teams have faced delays this year due to the pandemic and previously for hardware issues.
Le télescope spatial James Webb a réussi un dernier test décisif avant son lancement en octobre en Guyane sudouest.fr - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from sudouest.fr Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Delondrae Carter graduated this May with a degree in astrophysics from ASUâs School of Earth and Space Exploration.Â
His interest in the universe began in fourth grade when he worked on a project demonstrating the vast scale of the solar system. From there, he was inspired to learn as much as he could about astronomy and astrophysics.Â
âThat first project helped me discover that the world was a much bigger place than I initially thought,â Carter said.Â
Carter chose ASU for his undergraduate studies and was awarded a New American University Scholarship Presidentâs Award. That was soon followed by an Interdisciplinary Enrichment Fellowship and a Goldwater Scholarship, which is one of the most prestigious awards for STEM majors.
Nova Cas 2021, a ‘new star’ – a classical nova – discovered on 18 March 2021 in the northern constellation of Cassiopeia, has suddenly brightened in the past few days by around two magnitudes. It now shines at around magnitude +5.2, possibly within naked-eye range from a dark-sky UK location.
Nova Cas 2021 (V1405 Cas) has brightened by around two magnitudes in the past few days. The image on the left shows it on 5 May 2021 at 10:23 UT, while the one on the right, taken on 8 May 2021 at 10:03 UT, shows the recent outburst. Compare its brightness with the magnitude +6.6 star HIP 115691 to its lower-left (south-east). The open cluster Messier 52 is seen at the top of both frames. Both images have been cropped from the original. Images: Martin Mobberley.