James Webb Space Telescope Aligning Its Mirrors

In recent weeks, the James Webb Space Telescope team successfully captured starlight through each of Webb’s 18 mirror segments. They refined and stacked those 18 individual dots of light on top of one another to form an initial alignment image of a single star. Since then, in stages of alignment called “coarse phasing” and “fine phasing,” engineers have made smaller adjustments to the positions of Webb’s 18 primary mirror segments so they act as a single mirror, producing a sharp and focused image of a single star.

NASA will hold a virtual media briefing at noon EDT Wednesday, March 16, to provide an update on the James Webb Space Telescope’s mirror alignment. The briefing will air live on NASA TV, the NASA app, and the agency’s website.

SOURCES – NASA

1 thought on “James Webb Space Telescope Aligning Its Mirrors”

  1. I can't wait to see "settled scientific opinion" overturned by new observational capabilities. Maybe that will sink in to those so sure about climate change.

Comments are closed.