While Webb delivers sparkling new images, Hubble has survived many technical issues over the years and will continue to provide quality science for decades to come. But it’s important to note that these two spacecraft are not in direct competition.
JWST’s primary mirror is 6.6 meters (21.7 feet) wide
The James Webb Space Telescope has the largest mirror in the world. It is 6.6 meters wide and made up of 91 hexagonal segments. Each segment is about the size of a coffee table. The mirror is a complex system, requiring a team of engineers to align each mirror segment perfectly so that the entire surface is seamless. The mirrors’ alignment must be accurate to within 1/5,000 of a human hair.
The primary mirror is 6.6 meters (21.7 feet wide). The secondary mirror, which measures just over six meters wide, is needed for the JWST to get images of fainter objects. The JWST mission will spend about two months calibrating the various instruments on board.
The primary mirror of the JWST is 6.6 meters (21.7 feet) wide and combines with the other mirrors to form a telescope with high resolution. The mirror is made from lightweight beryllium and is covered in a thin layer of gold to make it more sensitive to infrared light. Each mirror segment is shaped by tiny actuators to produce a sharp image that science instruments can use. Although JWST will not have as high a resolution as Hubble, its sensitivity to infrared light means that the images will be of equal quality.
It has a honeycomb-shaped mirror
The hexagonal shape of James Webb’s Hubble observatory is a clever design that makes it ideal for observing stars. The shape allows for a high filling factor and six-fold symmetry, and eliminates any gaps between segments, which would be present if the mirror were circular. The honeycomb-shaped mirror also helps focus light onto the tightest region of the detector, while an oval or square mirror would throw a large amount of light out.
The primary mirror of the Hubble telescope is honeycomb-shaped, so it catches as much light as possible, and then reflects it down to a smaller focal point. This secondary mirror reflects the light back towards the primary mirror, and the telescope’s sensing instruments, and the two mirrors work together to form an image of faraway space.
The telescope’s honeycomb-shaped mirror is made of beryllium and reflective gold. The mirror unfolded on Friday, nearly 700,000 miles from Earth. The telescope will take five months to align the mirror before it can start taking pictures.
It sees infrared
The James Webb Space Telescope recently captured images of the universe’s infrared regions. The telescope translated the infrared data into visible light and then processed the data to create the images. The images were the first time in history that such a deep field image was taken.
The Hubble Space Telescope has already done a lot of amazing things. It carries a variety of sensors that enable it to view objects in the visible light spectrum. The JWST, however, will be able to see infrared and other wavelengths of light. This is important because only infrared light allows us to see the early universe. Light from the early universe has traveled for 13.8 billion years. However, we can see the galaxy’s center in the infrared range. The center of the galaxy is covered in dust particles.
Infrared light has a longer wavelength than visible light. This means that it’s easier to pass through dust and see objects inside the dust cloud. With Webb’s infrared vision, scientists will be able to study low-energy brown dwarfs and young protostars forming in nebulae. These images will reveal a hidden universe of star formation.
It has a larger collecting site
The successor to Hubble, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), is now in final physical inspection, and NASA is gearing up to launch it on a European Ariane 5 rocket on December 18. The mission was originally scheduled to launch Dec. 18, but a glitch during launch preparations delayed the launch until December 21. The extra time provided by the delay will allow engineers to fully prepare the spacecraft for flight.
The Webb telescope will have a bigger collecting site than Hubble, thanks to its larger primary mirror. Hubble’s mirror was only 7.8 feet wide, but Webb’s mirror is 6.5 meters in diameter, and its collecting site is almost six times larger. The larger collecting site will enable scientists to observe long wavelengths of light that Hubble couldn’t. The expansion of the universe makes light from faraway objects stretch to longer wavelengths. This means that distant objects that shine in blue or ultraviolet light will appear redshifted when they reach Earth.
The Hubble space telescope was launched in 1990, and has been operating for nearly three decades. It studies the Universe in the optical and ultraviolet spectrums, while Webb will observe objects in the infrared. Because Webb is further away from Earth, it will be able to observe objects much farther back in time.
