The area of space that scientists are trying to observe is so far away that only faint traces of light and heat are detectable from our region of space. The Webb telescope is designed to see farther back into space than its predecessors. Here’s how:
The heat of the sun can easily interfere with the Webb’s sensitive infrared detectors. That’s why it’s equipped with a shield to reflect the heat.for telescopes, almost 1 million miles from Earth — a spot that, gravitationally speaking, is not too far and not too close.If an infrared telescope such as the Webb were in a similar spot, light and heat from the sun, Earth and moon would drown out the faint signals it was designed to detect.
Instead, the Webb will be positioned almost 1 million miles from Earth to a spot known as the second Lagrange point, orOnce it reaches L2, its sun shield will help keep the infrared sensor and other instruments chilled to a temperature of minus-370 degrees. Webb’s L2 orbit around the sun will be in sync with Earth’s, so it can be in constant communication with its home base.where the gravitational pull of the sun and Earth is balanced enough to allow a small object — such as a satellite — to remain in a fixed orbit.
“It’s easy to get there and easy to orbit there,” Geithner said. L2 “orbits along with the Earth, so ... we’ll have access to any point in the sky.”Thanks to Webb, scientists will be able to produce images at a higher resolution than was possible with any other infrared telescope before it. The key is Webb’s large mirror, whose 18 hexagonal pieces will help it absorb as much infrared light as possible.
Because infrared light has a wavelength 10 times as wide as visible light, the Webb needed a significantly larger mirror than the Hubble. The result was a gold-plated mirror that is 2.7 times larger than its predecessor.
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