NASA sends surprise Webb telescope selfie from 1 million miles away.
NASA beams back unexpected selfie of the Webb telescope from 1 million miles away
We thought we'd never see the giant James Webb Space Telescope ever again.
The space observatory has traveled to its distant cosmic outpost, nearly a million miles from Earth. It doesn't carry any surveillance cameras dedicated to monitoring the instrument as it traveled through space and unfurled. They were too complicated, and risky, to add.
But NASA still found a way to take a (somewhat coarse and eerie) selfie.
The space agency used an auxiliary lens on its powerful Near-Infrared Camera, or NIRCam, which will peer at some of the earliest stars and galaxies that formed in the universe, over 13.5 billion years ago.
"This special lens is meant for engineering, not science, and allows NIRCam to capture an 'inward-looking' image of the primary mirror," NASA tweeted. "This image helps us to check that the telescope is aligned with the science instruments."
The Webb telescope's grand "primary mirror" is actually comprised of 18 hexagonal mirrors. Together, they make an over 21-foot-wide mirror, which is over two-and-a-half times the size of the legendary Hubble telescope's mirror. Crucially, a bigger mirror captures more light, allowing Webb to see fainter, more distant objects.
At this early stage in the mission, the telescope's engineers are still aligning these sensitive, gold-tinted mirrors, in preparation for viewing the deep cosmos. The telescope is only focused on a single star as it's brought into focus, an endeavor that will take at least weeks. That extremely bright hexagonal segment is directly aligned with the star, NASA explained.
In the coming years, the Webb telescope won't just peer at ancient galaxies. Those mirrors will also squint at exoplanets in our own Milky Way galaxy. We'll learn unprecedented things about these distant worlds, and what they're made of.
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Great video from NASA describing the process: https://twitter.com/NASAWebb/status/1492164096589971463
ReplyDeleteNot to worry it's just the mirror hidden in space to make it look twice as big.
ReplyDeleteridiculously from Hollywood!
ReplyDeleteoops they done it again....dang that hollywood basment still going
ReplyDeleteWas this taken in space or on Earth before launch?
ReplyDeleteAll this to convince me that the earth isn’t flat?!
ReplyDeleteNeah, that would be a waste.
Deletewhy isn't the base visible!? At least from this angle the sunshield should be in the image.
ReplyDeleteProbably because it doesn't reflect enough light to be visible. Remember that this is on the dark side of the sun shield. The mirrors are visible because the telescope is pointing at a star and even if they don't align perfectly, they still reflect some of the light
DeleteThank goodness! The hexagonal pixels are neat but the resolution is a bit disappointing.
ReplyDeleteIt's an engineering cam...it's not supposed to give you high quality images...it's supposed to work for its purpose.
DeleteThis is a such welcomed surprised! I never expected for us to see the telescope visually after the launch.
ReplyDeleteTruly an icon in the making. Really hope similar pictures and updates in the near future.
Cmon show us where we come from already!!! People are getting anxious.
ReplyDeleteHow often will the calibration be needed? Is this a one-and-done operation where the mirrors remain cemented in place or is this a scheduled bit of continuous maintenance?
ReplyDeleteThe first calibration takes the most effort. I've read that it's checked and tinkered with every few weeks. It shouldn't change much as the mirrors shouldn't change temperature or rattle much in it's day-to-day operations.
DeletePut a web cam from a 2002 laptop next time lol
ReplyDeleteWhat an amazing piece of human technology we have at 1,5 million km. A tribute for the future.
ReplyDeletePlus de 10 Mds de dollars pour faire une photo floue! Ah ben bravo !
ReplyDeleteIs there any visual explanation how this photo was taken? It’s a bit hard to imagine where the selfie stick is located :) Are we looking at both primary and secondary mirrors in this photo?
ReplyDeleteThis is so amazing! Never expected to get any real image of the equipment nor any part of it after deployment. Great stuff, can't wait for more interesting images of the deep cosmos. #NASAWebb #Jameswebb #Cosmos
ReplyDeleteWhat are the bright reflections of the mirror edges, the vertical bar and the diffuse reflection of the mirror surfaces? Starlight or an on-board light source?
ReplyDelete10 billion dollar selfie
ReplyDeleteAfter the next selfie it's only a 5 billion dollar selfie .
DeleteAnd so on an on ... until galaxies and planets are in the focus.
Why didnt u tell about this in built cam feature before. We were so desperate to have such image
ReplyDeleteOh wow they said “revolutionary pictures of the Big Bang and early universe” and instead we get this lol
ReplyDeleteSo, you didn't read what this was then
DeleteFor all those that asked why didn’t you put a camera there, Webb’s answer: here’s my hidden camera. It’s so amazing you guys launched an engineering marvel and keep us updated as the story unfolds. Thanks team!
ReplyDeleteWhat are those white specks? That can't be dust, right?
ReplyDeleteLooks like a thermal image which makes sense based on mission. So brighter is higher relative temperature.
ReplyDeleteIt's focused onto the particles on the protective glass shield. Guess it's gonna recalibrate itself aswell to attain more focus and give more crispier images.
ReplyDeleteMost expensive selfie so far?
ReplyDeleteYou all thought of everything, no wonder this thing is working so far.
ReplyDeleteMind blowing for us non-astronomers in the crowd!!! Well done UofA and NASA teams...well done indeed!
ReplyDeleteWill you need to align in such way each time you look at a different star?
ReplyDeleteC'est moi ou c'est flou?
ReplyDeleteMe who thinks of heat tiles lol
ReplyDeleteMost expensive loading screen ever!
ReplyDelete1/18 aligning... please wait.
Why are there white dots? Heavy particles?
ReplyDeleteI'm way too excited about this yikes this is so awesome
ReplyDeleteGo web, unfold the universe
ReplyDeleteFeeling cute, might show you can I can do later, idk.
ReplyDelete