James Webb Space Telescope Begins Three-Month Aligning Process, Detects First Photons in Space

James Webb Space Telescope will take about five more months to actually start its job.

Advertisement
By Edited by Gadgets 360 Newsdesk | Updated: 7 February 2022 11:11 IST
Highlights
  • James Webb Space Telescope was launched on Christmas Day 2021
  • James Webb Space Telescope has fully unfolded in space
  • James Webb Space Telescope will succeed Hubble
James Webb Space Telescope Begins Three-Month Aligning Process, Detects First Photons in Space

James Webb Space Telescope is the largest and most powerful of its kind

NASA has begun a three-month process to align the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), so that the $10-billion (roughly Rs. 74,710 crore) observatory could start doing what it was sent for: study the universe like never before. It also recently saw the first particles of light making their way through the entire telescope. So far, this is the closest scientists have come to realising their ultimate goal with the telescope. During the initial process, the images remain blurred and scientists will use them slowly to fine-tune the telescope. The observatory is expected to be ready for science by summer this year.

The agency said James Webb's Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) detected the first photons of starlight that travelled through the telescope. A team of engineers and scientists will now use the data taken with NIRCam to gradually align the telescope's 18 mirrors to form a fresh lens, NASA added.

James Webb was launched aboard an Ariane 5 rocket on Christmas last year. Since then, scientists have carried out several processes to unfold it. Exactly a month after the launch, the telescope reached the Lagrange Point 2 (L2), about 1.5 million kilometres from Earth on its nightside, from where it will quietly observe the intriguing events of the cosmos. L2 is a gravitationally stable point in space.

John Mather, the project's chief scientist, said recently that the telescope's “instruments are cooling” but they have started to detect individual particles of light (photons). According to a report by Space.com, Mather, a Nobel laureate and astrophysicist, said there were no images to show the world yet but he hoped they are able to develop images soon.

Advertisement

NASA said in a statement that the telescope-commissioning process will take much longer than previous space telescopes because James Webb's primary mirror consists of 18 individual mirror segments that need to work together as a single high-precision optical surface.

James Webb will take about five more months to pass through a rigorous commissioning process to actually start its job. Its images are expected to be different from those captured by the Hubble telescope as it will see things largely in infrared while Hubble uses different infrared wavelengths, along with visible light.

Advertisement


Are Oppo's new flagship phones any good? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.
 

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Advertisement

Related Stories

Popular Mobile Brands
  1. Oppo K13x 5G Design, Colour Options Revealed; May Launch Later This Month
  2. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 AI Camera Features Teased
  3. Alappuzha Gymkhana OTT Release Date: When and Where to Watch it Online?
  4. OnePlus 13s Sale Starts Today in India: Check Price and Offers
  5. Top Smartphones Under Rs 30,000 in India (June 2025): Check List
  6. Poco C71 Review: When You're on an Extra-Tight Budget
  7. Red Magic Gaming Tablet 3 Pro With Snapdragon 8 Elite Chip Debuts
  1. Truecaller Introduces Secure Calls for Businesses, Aimed at Protecting Users from Online Scams
  2. OnePlus 13s Sale Starts Today in India: Check Price, Discount, Bank Offers and More
  3. Red Magic Gaming Tablet 3 Pro With Snapdragon 8 Elite, Up to 24GB RAM Launched: Price, Specifications
  4. iQOO Z10 Lite 5G Battery Capacity Confirmed Ahead of India Launch, to Be Powered By Dimensity 6300 SoC
  5. Samsung Bespoke Smart Refrigerators Get a New Personalisation-Focused Voice ID Feature
  6. Crypto Scams Cost Investors $4.6 Billion in 2024, Social Engineering Attacks Surge: Bitget
  7. Google Pixel 10 to Introduce 'Pixelsnap' Accessories Alongside Qi 2.2 Support: Report
  8. Vivo X Fold 5 Launch Date Set for June 25; Design, Colour Options Revealed
  9. Meta Is Rolling Out a Template-Style Generative AI-Powered Video Editing Tool
  10. Realme 15 Pro to Launch in India in Four RAM and Storage Configurations, Three Colour Options: Report
Gadgets 360 is available in
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2025. All rights reserved.