- 2798 - TELESCOPES - James Webb launch in 2021? - The James Webb Space Telescope will be a large infrared telescope with a 6.5-meter primary mirror. The telescope will be launched from French Guiana.
--------------------- 2798 - TELESCOPES - James Webb launch in 2021
- The Webb telescope will be the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System.
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- Webb is an international collaboration between NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, is managing the development effort. The main industrial partner is Northrop Grumman; the Space Telescope Science Institute will operate Webb after launch.
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- Several innovative technologies have been developed for Webb. These include a primary mirror made of 18 separate segments that unfold and adjust to shape after launch. The mirrors are made of ultra-lightweight beryllium.
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- Webb's biggest feature is a tennis court sized five-layer sunshield that attenuates heat from the Sun more than a million times. The telescope’s four instruments - cameras and spectrometers - have detectors that are able to record extremely faint signals.
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- One instrument (NIRSpec) has programmable microshutters, which enable observation up to 100 objects simultaneously. Webb also has a cryocooler for cooling the mid-infrared detectors of another instrument (MIRI) to a very cold 7 kelvins (minus 447 Fahrenheit) so they can work.
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- The Webb is the largest telescope ever placed in space; 100 times more powerful than Hubble.
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- It is so big it has to fold origami-style to fit in the rocket and will unfold like a “Transformer” in space.
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- It has a 5-layer sunshield that protects the telescope from the infrared radiation of the Sun, Earth, and Moon; like having sun protection of SPF 1 million.
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- With unprecedented infrared sensitivity, it will peer back in time over 13.5 billion years to see the first galaxies born after the Big Bang. Where else can you be looking that far back in history?
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- Webb will orbit the Sun 1.5 million kilometers from the Earth. (Hubble orbits 560 kilometers above the Earth.)
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- I hope I am still writing these reviews so I can report on this amazing achievement for mankind.
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- April 24, 2020 2798
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--------------------- Monday, August 24, 2020 -------------------------
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