NASA really pleased with performance of telescope

NASA expects the James Webb Space Telescope’s optical performance will be “as good, if not better, than our most optimistic predictions,” the agency said after completing critical mirror alignment steps.

“I’m happy to say that the optical performance of the telescope is absolutely phenomenal,” said Lee Feinberg, Webb’s optical telescope element manager at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. “We said last fall that we would know the telescope is working properly when we have an image of a star that looks like a star. And now we have that.”

Webb was launched into space with 18 mirror segments that must be aligned to work as a 21-foot mirror. The telescope team has completed the stage of mirror alignment known as “fine phasing,” where each of the 18 primary mirror segments were adjusted to produce a unified image of a star using one of Webb’s instruments, NASA announced Wednesday. As a bonus, other stars and galaxies can be seen in the background of this image.

Every optical parameter on the telescope has been tested and is performing at or above expectations. The telescope is able to gather light from distant objects and then deliver this light to its instruments without issue.

“The performance is as good, if not better, than our most optimistic predictions,” Feinberg said. “So we’re really pleased.”

Webb’s first full-resolution imagery and science data will be released in the summer. In the meantime, Webb’s team will continue aligning the telescope through early May, perhaps finishing sooner. Then it will take roughly two months to check out Webb’s science instruments.

The $10 billion infrared telescope launched into space on Dec. 25. It will observe light from the very first galaxies that formed 100 million years after the Big Bang, study the birth of stars and probe atmospheres of planets outside our solar system for signs of ozone, water or carbon dioxide.

Webb was created by NASA and its international partners, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. The telescope’s science and flight operations are managed by the Space Telescope Science Institute.