. | . |
Webbcam Shows Webb Telescope Chilling in Chamber A by Eric Villard for NASA News Houston TX (SPX) Jul 27, 2017
The temperature of Chamber A at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston is steadily dropping, creating a frigid environment for NASA's James Webb Space Telescope that is in stark contrast to the heat of the city. You can view this contrast yourself by checking out the new temperature overlay on the Webbcam. With the Webb telescope locked away inside Chamber A, you won't see Webb itself on the Webbcam for several months. Now, however, you can see how the chamber's temperature compares to that of Houston. The temperature of the Chamber A will continue to steadily drop until it reaches about 20 kelvins (minus 424 degrees Fahrenheit/minus 253 degrees Celsius), but it will take a little while longer for the Webb telescope and its instruments to reach the same temperatures they will be when operating in space. The telescope and its instruments must transfer their heat to the surrounding liquid nitrogen and cold gaseous helium shrouds in Chamber A to achieve their operating temperature of about 37 kelvins (minus 393 Fahrenheit/ minus 236 Celsius). Because the Webb telescope's mid-infrared instrument (MIRI) must be kept colder than the other research instruments, it relies on a cryocooler to lower its temperature to less than 7 kelvins (minus 447 degrees Fahrenheit/minus 266 degrees Celsius). In space, the telescope must be kept extremely cold in order to be able to detect the infrared light from very faint, distant objects. To protect the telescope from external sources of light and heat (like the sun, Earth and moon), as well as from heat emitted by the observatory, a five-layer, tennis court-sized sunshield acts like a parasol that provides shade. The sunshield separates the observatory into a warm, sun-facing side (reaching temperatures close to 185 degrees Fahrenheit/85 degrees Celsius) and a cold side (minus 400 degrees Fahrenheit/minus 240 degrees Celsius). The sunshield blocks sunlight from interfering with the sensitive telescope instruments. The James Webb Space Telescope is the scientific successor to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. It will be the most powerful space telescope ever built. Webb is an international project led by NASA with its partners, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space Agency.
Garching, Germany (SPX) Jul 27, 2017 Using new observations from ESO's VLT Survey Telescope, astronomers have discovered three different populations of young stars within the Orion Nebula Cluster. This unexpected discovery adds very valuable new insights for the understanding of how such clusters form. It suggests that star formation might proceed in bursts, where each burst occurs on a much faster time-scale than previously though ... read more Related Links James Webb Space Telescope Stellar Chemistry, The Universe And All Within It
|
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us. |