That James Webb Space Telescope This completes the first major stage in the long process of aligning the main observatory of 18 segments.
One star What the observatory saw was deliberately changed 18 times into a hexagon. In the end, the 18 images would be perfectly aligned in one sharp focus, but the interim result depicts a star that repeats perfectly in a stunning snowflake-like hexagon pattern.
“The resulting image shows that the team moved each of Webb’s 18 main mirror segments to bring 18 unfocused copies of a single star into a striped hexagonal formation,” NASA officials wrote in a message. posting blog Friday (18 February).
Live update: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Mission
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The star images are oriented in this particular pattern “so that they have the same relative position as the physical mirror,” Matthew Lallo, systems scientist and director of the Telescope Branch at the Institute of Space Telescope Science, which Webb directs, said in the statement.
Then, the observatory will initiate what engineers call a “section alignment,” which will correct the larger positioning errors in each section of the primary mirror and align the secondary mirrors.
Once the clips have been successfully aligned, the team will begin the third stage – “image stacking” – which will eventually bring the 18 images on top of each other into one clear view.
Lalo said the three-stage procedure would allow the team to experience an “intuitive and natural way to visualize change” throughout the process. Another benefit, he adds, is that “we can now watch the master mirror slowly mold into the exact shape we want it to be.”
Aligning the mirrors properly is the main goal of Webb’s assignment, which is expected to be completed by the summer. The mission begins on December 25, 2021, with an ambitious mission to look at the early universe, exoplanets, and other key points in the universe.
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