Webb and the aim to cut through the web of mysteries

Webb and the aim to cut through the web of mysteries

Webb and the aim to cut through the web of mysteries

May 23 2022 12:46 AM



As the James Webb Space Telescope - the world’s largest, most powerful, and most complex space science telescope ever built - moves through the final phases of commissioning its science instruments, Nasa has also begun working on technical operations of the observatory. Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond to distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it. Webb is an international programme led by Nasa with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.

While the telescope moves through space, it will constantly find distant stars and galaxies and point at them with extreme precision to acquire images and spectra. However, Nasa also plans to observe planets and their satellites, asteroids, and comets in our solar system, which move across the background stars of our galaxy. Webb needs to be able to lock on to these objects and track them with sufficient precision to obtain images and spectra. The Webb team recently completed the first test to track a moving object, as explained in