James Webb Space Telescope: what's next?

The world’s most powerful telescope arrived at its new home in space this week

The first full-color image from Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope shows the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723. Photo: Nasa

This image made available by Nasa on March 16, 2022 shows star 2MASS J17554042+6551277 used to align the mirrors of the James Webb Space Telescope, with galaxies and stars surrounding it. The hexagonal shape of Webb’s mirrors and its filters made the shimmering star look more red and spiky. The first science images aren't expected until July 12. Photo: Nasa

This photo provided by NASA shows a “selfie” created using a specialized pupil imaging lens inside of the NIRCam instrument that was designed to take images of the primary mirror segments instead of images of space. (NASA via AP)

Webb is able to look back in time 13 billion years, a mere 100 million years after the Big Bang. AP

The James Webb Space Telescope separates from Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket. AFP

Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket, with Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope on board, takes off from the Guiana Space Centre in Kourou, French Guiana, on December 25, 2021. Reuters

The James Webb Space Telescope will help answer fundamental questions about the universe, peering back in time 13 billion years. AFP

Three decades and billions of dollars in the making, the world's most powerful space telescope will take up its position 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth. AFP

Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope is carried by rocket from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana. AFP

This combination of images from an animation made available by Nasa shows the unfolding of the components of the James Webb Space Telescope. Webb is so big that it had to be folded origami-style to fit into the nose cone of the Ariane rocket. AP

Now that the James Webb Space Telescope has reached its final orbit, engineers will spend the next five months preparing the observatory for its mission to study the universe.

The world’s most powerful telescope on Monday successfully completed a journey of 1.5 million kilometres, arriving at a place in space known as Lagrange Point 2.

The location helps the $10 billion spacecraft to orbit the Sun while “hiding behind” the Earth to protect itself from the solar heat and allowing it to see greater distances than any other telescope in history.

Bill Ochs, Webb’s project manager, said the telescope has been successful since its launch from a spaceport in South America on December 25.

“During the past month, the James Webb Space Telescope has achieved amazing success and is a tribute to all the folks who spent many years and even decades to ensure mission success,” he said.

“We are now on the verge of aligning the mirrors, instrument activation and commissioning, and the start of wondrous and astonishing discoveries.”

The telescope was in development for more than 20 years and faced several delays.

Once operations begin, the observatory should be able to see more than 13.5 billion light years away and capture data concerning the birth of the universe.

However, there are still several months to go before the science phase commences. The first science images are expected by summer.

In a webcast on Tuesday, Nasa engineers explained the next steps.

Cooling down the telescope

First, the telescope needs to cool down more.

Its enormous mirror, made up of 18 smaller hexagonal mirrors, has to be kept at a temperature of minus 233°C to work properly.

The temperature of its instruments also has to be reduced so it can take images successfully.

A five-layer sunshield, the size of a tennis court, helps to weaken the heat from the Sun by more than a million times.

The James Webb Space Telescope's enormous mirror, made up of 18 individual hexagonal mirrors, has to be kept at a temperature of minus 233°C to work properly. Photo: Nasa / AFP

“Now, we just continue to cool down in order for our instruments and fine steering mirror to function at optimal capacity. They need to reach a set temperature range,” said Dr Amber Straughn, deputy project scientist for Webb’s science communications.

“Sometimes it's easy for us to assume that because it's space, it can get really cold. Why wouldn't we just instantly freeze up, especially with this humongous sunshield?

“But we have to remember that the space environment is not like it is here on Earth. We have heat transfer processes here on Earth, like convection and conduction. In space, we're limited to radiation, therefore the heat dissipation takes a lot longer.”

Aligning the mirrors

By next week, engineers will start aligning the 18 mirrors so they all point in one direction.

Small motors placed behind every mirror would help engineers move each one of them by 10 nanometres – less than the thickness of a single strand of hair.

These tiny movements would help with precision.

“That's how much control we have with these motors. They provide six degrees of freedom. We're going to move each mirror very carefully,” Dr Straughn said.

“And we're going to determine which images are reflecting from which mirrors, and then through the wavefront sensing and control process we'll be able to achieve full alignment and fully align our iconic gold mirror and finally focus the telescope.”

Testing the instruments

Once the alignment is complete, engineers will calibrate its four main instruments.

These include cameras, spectrographs and imagers that will detect light from distant stars and galaxies, and planets orbiting other stars.

They will test the instruments several times to make sure the telescope is ready for its science operation by the summer.

Wonders of space - in pictures

Helix Nebula is a phase when a star like the Sun runs out of fuel, it expands and its outer layers puff off, and then the core of the star shrinks. All photos: Nasa

This Cartwheel Galaxy resembles a bull's eye, which is appropriate because its appearance is partly due to a smaller galaxy that passed through the middle of this object.

On February 24, 1987, observers in the southern hemisphere saw a new object in a nearby galaxy called the Large Magellanic Cloud. This was one of the brightest supernova explosions in centuries and soon became known as Supernova 1987A.

Messier 82, or M82, is a galaxy that is oriented edge-on to Earth. This gives astronomers an interesting view of what happens as this galaxy undergoes bursts of star formations.

Galaxy clusters are the largest objects in the universe held together by gravity. They contain enormous amounts of superheated gas, with temperatures of tens of millions of degrees, which glow brightly in X-rays and can be observed across millions of light years between galaxies.

What will be the next star in our Milky Way galaxy to explode as a supernova? Astronomers aren't certain, but one candidate is in Eta Carinae, a volatile system containing two massive stars that closely orbit each other.