(Mar 16, 2022; NASA | James Webb Space Telescope)
On March 11, the Webb team completed the stage of alignment known as “fine phasing.” At this key stage in the commissioning of Webb’s Optical Telescope Element, every optical parameter that has been checked and tested is performing at, or above, expectations. The team also found no critical issues and no measurable contamination or blockages to Webb’s optical path. The observatory is able to successfully gather light from distant objects and deliver it to its instruments without issue.
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“We have fully aligned and focused the telescope on a star, and the performance is beating specifications. We are excited about what this means for science,” said Ritva Keski-Kuha, deputy optical telescope element manager for Webb at NASA Goddard. “We now know we have built the right telescope.”
Read the rest from NASA: NASA’s Webb Reaches Alignment Milestone, Optics Working Successfully
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Very interesting news, there is no doubt that technology is one of the best tools, I imagine everything that can be observed, with more precision and more authenticity
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NASA scientists were ecstatic that the image quality surpassed it's expected metrics. I think that is a wonderful indication of what is to come.
And this is only one of the sensors on board.
Indeed fun to imagine what we'll see in the future.
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It's interesting that they have a special, "selfie" mode for diagnostics and configuration.
More on this from @sarahjay1, in her article, The James Webb telescope completes its optical system fine-tuning and sends an stunning photo of the Universe, and here's an embedded YouTube video from the NASA link (the thumbnail is a 'selfie').
I'm normally skeptical when a government official says that something is performing better than spec, but hopefully it's true this time. Looking forward to seeing images from the earliest times in the universe.
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I zoomed in, and saw a number of what looks like digital processing artifacts in the image. I asked a question about it on a Reddit post for a YouTube video, but I haven't gotten feedback yet. If those artifacts are from processing, uploading, me downloading it...
Based on a reaction video I watched from somebody who apparently follows the NASA team closely, along with a community of people who interact via Discord, the team was genuinely surprised and happy about the quality. I think you're in sound territory to hope it's true.
I love the selfie idea too! Really cool to see the 18 pieces of the mirror aligned so well.
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Actually @remlaps, the video I watched about this featured an old image from another device of the same star, and it's fascinating to see the difference in quality!
Was thinking I could dig that up, and drop an article about the comparison in the stem community.
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