Dr. Becky breaks down the exciting news about the JWST and why space scientists, the JWST team, and all us space nerds can now breathe a lot easier.
As Becky points out, because the launch went so phenomenally well, they had to use very little course-correction fuel, which means that Webb will likely be able to do science long after the initial 10 year prediction.
She also points out that the first of four instruments has been turned on, the MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument), a camera and a spectrograph for observing mid to long infrared radiation and coronagraphs for observing exoplanets.
And finally, as Dr. Becky puts it, “Houston, we have a telescope.” The five sun shields have been deployed and the secondary mirror tripod have all been successfully deployed. The JWST is officially now a telescope.
There are still things that need to be done. The next major event is the wings of the primary mirror still need to be deployed. NASA will be covering this live on January 8.
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