In a cavernous Los Angeles County cleanroom,Foreign Archives Northrop Grumman and NASA engineers have pieced together the space agency's prized next-generation telescope, the James Webb Space Telescope.
It's big.
How big? NASA tweeted a picture of a human standing on a crane beside the behemoth cosmic-sleuthing satellite, for reference.
This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable The large, gold-tinted hexagons are the space telescope's mirrors. There's a reason they're big.
"A telescope's sensitivity, or how much detail it can see, is directly related to the size of the mirror area that collects light from the objects being observed," wrote NASA. "A larger area collects more light, just like a larger bucket collects more water in a rain shower than a small one."
Webb's mirrors have a 6.5 meter, or over 21-foot, diameter. That's significantly larger than the nearly 8-foot mirror on NASA's legendary Hubble telescope, the hard-working predecessor to the Webb.
The Webb — designed to peer at distant galaxies, solar nurseries, and exotic exoplanets — will also sit on a light-blocking base, called a sunshield, which is about thesize of a tennis court.
(The Hubble, too, is big. It's the size of a tractor-trailer truck.)
SEE ALSO: The space race forged immortal rock and roll guitarsThe James Webb telescope is scheduled to launch into space on March 21, 2021. The $9.66 billion project has been beset with numerous delays, but such is the price of unprecedented outer space endeavors.
"The James Webb Space Telescope is the most ambitious and complex astronomical project ever built, and bringing it to life is a long, meticulous process," European Space Agency director Günther Hasinger said last year. "The wait will be a little longer now but the breakthrough science that it will enable is absolutely worth it."
"From the very first galaxies after the Big Bang, to searching for chemical fingerprints of life on Enceladus, Europa, and exoplanets like TRAPPIST-1e, Webb will be looking at some incredible things in our universe,” said Eric Smith, director of the James Webb Space Telescope, in a statement.
The Man Who Knew Nothing at All
The 6 most WTF robots at CES 2025
Best iPad deal: Save $70 on Apple iPad (10th Gen)
Segway Xyber is a wickedly quick e
The Fatberg Cometh
OnePlus 13 arrives. What reviewers are saying.
NYT mini crossword answers for January 7, 2025
CES 2025: Samsung's The Frame Pro TV exists now, and old Frame TVs are on sale
Whitewash
How to unblock xHamster for free
Administering Evil
CES 2025: LG’s portable TV gets an upgrade and accessories
CES Nvidia keynote livestream: How to watch, what to expect
Hands on with Lenovo's 'rollable' display laptop at CES 2025
Art After Social Collapse
Best Apple Pencil deal: Save $10 on Apple Pencil (USB
CES 2025: Google to bring Gemini to TVs. 3 wild things it can do.
Best Sony TV deal: Save $1,100 on the 75
Soundtrack to a Drug War
Best Apple Airtag deal: Save $30 on Apple Airtags
Facebook wants to embrace great journalism — try telling that to their algorithmsFacebook's first social VR app is coolFacebook shows off its brain interface research and... wowWe’re about to test out hacking the Earth’s climate. That should scare and inspire you.Wingman is the dating app that lets you play matchmaker for your friendsSesame Street gets the 'Real Housewives' treatment in hilarious new parodyThe original 'StarCraft' is now freeThis hot videoTrolls are lashing out at Christian Bale's new movie before it even premieresGenius pet owner turned oldWhy Trump's latest speech is a big deal for Silicon ValleyThe original 'StarCraft' is now freeXiaomi Mi 6 brings Galaxy S8Woman breaks into Drake's home and steals Pepsi from the world's thirstiest manInstagram will soon work offline on your Android phoneBill O'Reilly was fired from Fox News and this is the internet's goThis frog's slime can destroy flu virusesFacebook's first social VR app is coolThis apple core could genuinely be the Eye of Sauron'Go Go Power Rangers' comic shows a new side of the super teenagers Hinge launches fund to support therapy access for LGBTQ and BIPOC daters What social media ads don't tell you about egg freezing To Die, To Sleep, And Other News On the Isles of the Shoals with Celia Thaxter Prime Day beauty deals include Solawave, Shark FlexStyle, and more tech 'Quordle' today: See each 'Quordle' answer and hints for October 11, 2023 Solve These Rhyming Riddles and Win a Free Subscription Things People Do: Four Paintings by Mernet Larsen Living and Dying by the NBA Schedule Best Prime Day Kindle Oasis deal: $50 off Kindle Oasis The History Behind Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” Remembering Arnold Greenberg and the Complete Traveller The evolution of the popular music subreddit r/indieheads Staff Picks: Peter Hujar, Luc Sante, Samantha Hunt Snapchat's crying filter is going viral on TikTok The Fine Art of the Armchair Cookbook Looking for Fractals in Literature Watch a Strange, Spooky Documentary About Isak Dinesen The 'this was my Multiverse of Madness' trend, explained Pushing a Taxi Out of the Snow
2.0441s , 10130.71875 kb
Copyright © 2025 Powered by 【Foreign Archives】,Evergreen Information Network