NASA's new space telescope opened its huge, gold-plated, flower-shaped
mirror Saturday, the final step in the observatory's dramatic unfurling.
The last portion of the 21-foot (6.5-meter) mirror swung into place at
flight controllers' command, completing the unfolding of the James Webb
Space Telescope.
"I'm emotional about it. What an amazing milestone. We see that beautiful
pattern out there in the sky now," said Thomas Zurbuchen, chief of NASA's
science missions.
More powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope, the $10 billion Webb will
scan the cosmos for light streaming from the first stars and galaxies formed
13.7 billion years ago. To accomplish this, NASA had to outfit Webb with the
largest and most sensitive mirror ever launched—its "golden eye," as
scientists call it.
Webb is so big that it had to be folded orgami-style to fit in the rocket
that soared from South America two weeks ago. The riskiest operation
occurred earlier in the week, when the tennis court-size sunshield unfurled,
providing subzero shade for the mirror and infrared detectors.
Flight controllers in Baltimore began opening the primary mirror Friday,
unfolding the left side like a drop-leaf table. The mood was even more
upbeat Saturday, with peppy music filling the control room as the right side
snapped into place. After applauding, the controllers immediately got back
to work, latching everything down. They jumped to their feet and cheered
when the operation was finally complete two hours later.
"We have a deployed telescope on orbit, a magnificent telescope the likes of
which the world has never seen," Zurbuchen said, congratulating the team.
"So how does it feel to make history, everybody? You just did it."
His counterpart at the European Space Agency, astronomer Antonella Nota,
noted that after years of preparation, the team made everything look "so
amazingly easy."
"This is the moment we have been waiting for, for so long," she said.
Webb's main mirror is made of beryllium, a lightweight yet sturdy and
cold-resistant metal. Each of its 18 segments is coated with an ultra thin
layer of gold, highly reflective of infrared light. The hexagonal, coffee
table-size segments must be adjusted in the days and weeks ahead so they can
focus as one on stars, galaxies and alien worlds that might hold atmospheric
signs of life.
Webb should reach its destination 1 million miles (1.6 million kilometers)
away in another two weeks; it's already more than 667,000 miles (1 million
kilometers) from Earth since its Christmas Day launch. If all continues to
go well, science observations will begin this summer. Astronomers hope to
peer back to within 100 million years of the universe-forming Big Bang,
closer than Hubble has achieved.
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Space & Astrophysics