Bretrick
Well-known Member
- Location
- Perth Western Australia
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the biggest, most powerful space telescope ever built.
With its massive gold-coated mirror, it promises to shine new light on the first stars and galaxies that formed after the Big Bang nearly 14 billion years ago.
The telescope will also be able to detect atmospheres around alien planets in the Milky Way, and moons in our own solar system.
The telescope has four instruments — cameras and spectrographs — that can take images and detect energy in the infrared light spectrum.
At the heart of the telescope is a 6.5-metre gold-plated mirror made up of 18 segments.
Surrounding the mirror is a five-layer silver shield the size of a tennis court that will protect the telescope from the heat of the Sun.
The heat shield will keep the telescope super cold — minus 223 degrees Celsius, close to absolute zero — so it's able to observe objects in the infrared.
With its massive gold-coated mirror, it promises to shine new light on the first stars and galaxies that formed after the Big Bang nearly 14 billion years ago.
The telescope will also be able to detect atmospheres around alien planets in the Milky Way, and moons in our own solar system.
The telescope has four instruments — cameras and spectrographs — that can take images and detect energy in the infrared light spectrum.
At the heart of the telescope is a 6.5-metre gold-plated mirror made up of 18 segments.
Surrounding the mirror is a five-layer silver shield the size of a tennis court that will protect the telescope from the heat of the Sun.
The heat shield will keep the telescope super cold — minus 223 degrees Celsius, close to absolute zero — so it's able to observe objects in the infrared.