The Jemas Webb Space Telescope is already making final preparations

space telescope James Webb It’s already in its seventh and final stage of alignment, which makes the spacecraft just under the full capacity for science operations.

The gradation includes the final adjustments to the telescope’s primary mirrors, something that is done as you read this. Moreover, the entire operation is being carried out on time after its launch from French Guiana four months ago. The Previous stages They involved doing tasks for the first time (such as taking multiple overlapping photos of the same star). However, the seventh stage consists of double checking the previous tasks so that the accuracy is as high as possible.

Meanwhile, the onboard MIRI Infrared Instrument, which is essential to power the telescope, has already reached its optimum operating temperature, something NASA has already done. to explain At the beginning of the same month. James Webb will examine different things like planetsOr asteroids or protoplanetary disks use infrared radiation, so it’s essential for MIRI to function properly. To do this, its temperature must drop to the point where the atoms inside the detector stop vibrating. These vibrations are called “dark current”, are increasing By a factor of 10 for every degree the temperature rises.

The 18 mirrors on the James Webb grid also need cooling because they are made of beryllium, an element that takes a long time to cool down. “All mirrors have a temperature already below 55 degrees Kelvin (-218 degrees Celsius), so we hope that MIRI is already sensitive enough to do science missions. to It is designed. Any additional cooling will only increase its performance,” he explains in A NASA article Jonathan Gardner, scientist at James Webb. “The telescope team expects the mirrors to remain cool by another 0.5 to 2 degrees Kelvin.”

In the futureIn the immediate vicinity of the telescope, the team hopes to be able to measure how the spacecraft is heating up depending on its orientation toward the sun. This measurement will be used to correct for possible changes in accuracy depending on its direction. James Webb’s first observations will take place this summer.