This is the first image, a composite of all 18 mirrors. The bright object is the same star repeated 18 times. The next 3 months will be spent trying to align them.
Posted on 02/18/2022 2:07:36 AM PST by zeestephen
The James Webb Space Telescope's key pointing instrument is working well in testing...The Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS)...successfully locked on to a specific guide star in tracking mode on Sunday...the instrument will next be used to assist with the ongoing alignment of the 18 hexagonal segments that make up the primary mirror of the telescope...
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
No photo in article?
That’s the first photo showing the “unfocused” star. The title implies that the Webb scope has finally fine-tuned its lenses so only one image remains.
This then is very old news.
“Very old” as in Sunday, like the article says. That’s when this picture was taken.
the article title seems a bit misleading, is all I’m saying.
I know this takes time, probably weeks before they can focus those images into one.
You forgot to read the article.
Once all 18 mirrors are aligned, the telescope has to adjust its position almost every second to keep its focus within a range of 10 nanometers. It does that by tracking the known distance between multiple guide stars, second by second.
The entire universe is in constant motion, which means the whole telescope must make minute adjustments second by second.
The cost of this thing is just out of this world, so to keep the taxpaying public happy I’m really hoping its discoveries are frequent and mindblowing!
It’s a joint European-American project, so we’re only paying a portion of that cost, but is still quite a bit of $$ ...
Honestly, I prefer this type of government spending versus gender, lesbian or other studies, kickbacks to corporate cronies in high tech, or anything involving climate change.
This is a very good site with lots of reference links.
It’s been an open tab on my computer since launch.
https://webb.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/whereIsWebb.html
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