A small meteoroid hit the main mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope just over a month before the first real-color images of the observatory were released.
NASA said the dust-sized space rock damage was having a significant effect on the $ 10 billion (£ 7.4 billion) telescope data, but it is not expected to limit the performance of the mission.
The US space agency added that the impact would not in any way ruin the “wow” factor of the first views of the telescope’s cosmos, which are due to be made public on July 12.
Experts say the micrometeoroid struck the newly deployed James Webb between May 23 and 25, leaving one of its gold-plated mirrors out of alignment, but without changing the observatory’s schedule in orbit for come into operation soon.
NASA revealed that it was the fifth and largest space rock to hit the telescope since its launch last December.
The analysis indicates that the impact left a “bouquet” in the mirror segment known as C3, one of the 18 beryllium gold tiles that make up Webb’s 21-foot-wide primary reflector.
Damage: A small meteoroid hit the main mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope (pictured) just one month before the first real-life color images of the observatory were released.
NASA said the dust-sized space rock damage was having a significant effect on the $ 10 billion (£ 7.4 billion) telescope data, but that it is not expected to limit performance. of the mission.
KEY FACTS: NASA’S $ 10 billion US $ JAMES SPACE TELESCOPE
Operator: NASA
Release: December 25, 2021
Full operation begins: summer 2022
Location: point L2 Sun-Earth
Orbit type: Halo orbit
Mission duration: 20 years (expected)
Telescope diameter: 21 feet (6.5 m)
Focal length: 431 feet (131.4 m)
Wavelengths: 0.6–28.3 μm
“After initial assessments, the team found that the telescope was still operating at a level that exceeded all mission requirements,” NASA said in a statement.
“Exhaustive analysis and measurements are being done”.
Engineers have begun a delicate readjustment of the impacted mirror segment to help “cancel out some of the distortion” caused by the micrometeoroid, the U.S. space agency said.
Webb was parked in a solar orbit about a million miles (1.6 million km) from Earth in January and is expected to give its first full-color images next month.
“This recent impact did not lead to any changes in Webb’s program of operations,” NASA said.
The Webb mirror was designed to withstand bombardment with dust-sized particles flying at extreme speeds in space, but the most recent impact was “larger than modeled and beyond the team could have tested on the ground. “
The telescope is considered the most powerful space observatory ever built, with a set of sensors and 18 gold-plated mirror segments working together to search for distant planets and galaxies from the early stages of the universe.
Engineers designed it to withstand the occasional impact of micrometeoroids: small space rocks that travel at ultra-fast speeds during projected meteor showers near Webb’s location in space.
Last month’s micrometeoroid was not from any meteor showers, NASA said.
The U.S. space agency described the impact as “an inevitable coincidence” and said it had convened a team of engineers to study ways to avoid future impacts of similar space rocks.
James Webb’s main mirror consists of 18 hexagonal segments of golden beryllium metal and measures 21 feet and 4 inches (6.5 meters) in diameter. It is supported by three shallow carbon fiber tubes, or struts, extending from the large primary mirror.
WHAT INSTRUMENTS DOES THE WEBB HAVE?
NIRCam (Near InfraRed Camera) an infrared image from the edge of the visible through the near infrared
NIRSpec (Near InfraRed Spectrograph) will also perform spectroscopy in the same wavelength range.
MIRI (Mid-InfraRed Instrument) will measure the average long wavelength range from 5 to 27 micrometers.
FGS / NIRISS (Fine Guidance Sensor and Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph), is used to stabilize the line of sight of the observatory during scientific observations.
Earlier this month, NASA said the launch of Webb’s first full-color images would be “a unique moment for us all to stop and marvel at a sight that humanity has never seen before.”
Officials have previously released a set of engineering images to show that all the hardware works as it should in the telescope.
These images showed slightly different views of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy in our Milky Way, but it is unclear what the first full-color images will capture.
Webb went through a six-month preparation period before he could begin scientific work, calibrating his instruments to their space environment and aligning their mirrors.
It was launched into space on December 25 last year and later launched into orbit a million miles from our planet.
Scientists expect the observatory, a replacement for the 32-year-old Hubble Telescope, to be able to look back 13.5 billion years at a point between 100 and 200 million years of the Big Bang.
It has an ambitious mission to study the early universe, find out how fast it is expanding, and analyze objects across the cosmos, from galaxies to exoplanets.
NASA said Webb was now “at full power” and “ready to begin his scientific mission.”
Once each of Webb’s instruments has been calibrated, tested, and given the green light by his science and engineering teams, the first spectroscopic images and observations will be made.
The team will proceed through a list of pre-selected targets, before processing the images for the audience.
Webb is about 100 times more powerful than the iconic Hubble Telescope, allowing it to observe objects at greater distances, therefore further back in time, than the Hubble or any other telescope.
NASA likes to think of James Webb as a successor to Hubble instead of a replacement, as the two will work in tandem for a while.
Development of the new telescope began in 1996 and was initially expected to be launched in 2007, but a major redesign in 2005 delayed it and a series of additional delays eventually led it to orbit at the end of last year.
This is an international collaboration led by NASA in collaboration with European and Canadian space agencies.
THE TELESCPI JAMES WEBB
The James Webb Telescope has been described as a “time machine” that could help unravel the secrets of our universe.
The telescope will be used to look back at the first galaxies born in the early universe more than 13.5 billion years ago, and to observe the sources of stars, exoplanets, and even the moons and planets of our solar system.
The vast telescope, which has already cost more than $ 7 billion (£ 5 billion), is considered a successor to the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope.
The James Webb Telescope and most of its instruments have an operating temperature of about 40 Kelvin, about 387 Fahrenheit (minus 233 Celsius).
It is the largest and most powerful orbital space telescope in the world, capable of looking back 100 to 200 million years after the Big Bang.