The inspirational JWST is pushing the limits of how far back in time cosmologists can see
Photograph: NASA/PAPhotograph: NASA/PAdetailed images of the universe
The first images are, literally, wonderful. Specialist astronomers can see details of the birth and death of stars, as well as all the stages in between; and witness gravitational lensing, predicted by Einstein, previously only partially recorded by the JWST’s predecessor, the Hubble space telescope .
There are, though, more practical benefits that have already come from the telescope. The real heroes in the JWST story are not the scientists who will interpret the results. Not even the instrument specialists who designed and built the equipment that will detect planets, stars and galaxies. The heroes are the engineers and technologists who built the telescope.
An image from the Mid-Infrared Instrument on the James Webb space telescope shows details of Stephan’s Quintet, a visual grouping of five galaxies.The mirror on the JWST is made from beryllium, a metal that is much lighter than aluminium or glass. It was fabricated as 18 hexagonally shaped plates, and it is from these plates that the first technological spin-out was recognised. The plates have to be flat.
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