James Webb Space Telescope: All 18 Mirrors Capture Same Star, NASA Releases Images

The result depicts a star that is exactly replicated in a hexagonal pattern.

By Edited by Gadgets 360 Newsdesk | Updated: 21 February 2022 12:01 IST

James Webb Space Telescope: All 18 Mirrors Capture Same Star, NASA Releases Images

Photo Credit: NASA/STScI/J. DePasquale

This early James Webb alignment image is called an "image array"

Highlights

James Webb Space Telescope was launched on Christmas Day 2021
James Webb Space Telescope has fully unfolded in space
James Webb Space Telescope will succeed Hubble

The first phase of the James Webb Space Telescope's months-long process of aligning the observatory's 18-segmented primary mirror is nearing completion. The initial stage of this technique, known as “Segment Image Identification”, has been completed by engineers. The James Webb Space Telescope, with its 18 primary mirror segments, has now recorded 18 unfocussed images of the same star in the form of a planned hexagonal formation. This will help to focus the visuals even further. James Webb's 18 primary mirror segments captured the same star as dots, which will be aligned into a single, sharp focussed image in the end.

As of now, the result depicts a star that is exactly replicated in a hexagonal pattern, resembling a celestial snowflake. A tweet from the official Twitter handle of NASA Webb Telescope confirmed about the development. “Last week, 18 spots helped confirm that each of Webb's mirror segments can see starlight,” read the tweet, and also had an image of the hexagonal arrangement.

He(X)agon marks the spots ????‍☠️

Last week, 18 spots helped confirm that each of Webb's mirror segments can see starlight. Now we've arranged those dots into our primary mirror shape, completing the first of Webb's mirror alignment phases: https://t.co/T3pf68Cfvj #UnfoldTheUniverse pic.twitter.com/dYzPqg0EJv
— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) February 18, 2022

A NASA update published on February 18 stated that the team had, now, moved on to the second phase of the alignment — Segment Alignment. In this stage, the team will fix positioning errors of the mirror segments and update the secondary mirror's alignment, making each individual dot of starlight more focussed. After this, the team will move on to the third phase — Image Stacking — which will stack the 18 spots of light on top of one another.

“We steer the segment dots into this array so that they have the same relative locations as the physical mirrors,” said Matthew Lallo, systems scientist and Telescopes Branch manager at the Space Telescope Science Institute.

[Sponsored] Samsung Galaxy S24: The Ultimate Camera Phone With Smarter On-Device AI

Though the images taken by the James Webb Space Telescope aren't particularly striking right now, but the most powerful observatory ever to launch to space is expected to be ready for scientific observations soon using its high-resolution equipment, and unearth the mysteries of the universe and its evolution.

On December 25, the observatory was launched from French Guiana. Its science objective includes peering back in time by 13.5 billion years to view the first stars and galaxies forming out of the early universe's darkness.

Can Realme 9 Pro and 9 Pro+ win their respective segments? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.