Cosmic vision: What secrets NASA’s space telescope might reveal
It will travel 1 million miles into space – five times the distance to the moon – and then unfurl a kite-shaped sunshade the size of a tennis court. This umbrella will deflect the sun’s powerful rays, allowing the instrument to operate at a cryogenic minus 370 degrees Fahrenheit, cold enough to see infrared wavelengths without interference.
It will carefully unfold a set of 18 hexagonal mirrors made of beryllium, a rare metal known for its strength and ability to withstand extreme temperatures, which are coated in a veneer of gold. These will bloom into a flowerlike configuration stretching 21 feet across, making it the largest mirror ever deployed in space.
It is this glistening marvel that scientists hope will usher in a new age of discovery about the cosmos.
If all goes as planned, the $9.7 billion James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), scheduled to launch from French Guiana as early as Dec. 24, will provide humanity with the ability to peer farther into the heavens than ever before. The observatory could offer new insight into when stars first appeared, how galaxies evolved, and the nature of dark energy, as well as add knowledge to the question that most stirs the popular imagination – whether planets exist that can support life.
The performance of the telescope may also go a
