11/9/2023 0 Comments Hubble vs webb imagesThe coordinated Hubble and Webb observations are more than just an operational milestone for each telescope – there are also key science questions relating to the makeup and history of our solar system that researchers can explore when combining the capabilities of these observatories. DART is a test for defending Earth against potential asteroid or comet hazards. It was the world’s first test of the kinetic impact mitigation technique, using a spacecraft to deflect an asteroid that poses no threat to Earth, and modifying the object’s orbit. 26, 2022, at 7:14 pm EDT, DART intentionally crashed into Dimorphos, the asteroid moonlet in the double-asteroid system of Didymos. These observations of NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) impact mark the first time that Webb and Hubble simultaneously observed the same celestial target. The official first light images are predicted to come in July.Īdapted from an article originally published on Universe Today.Two of NASA’s Great Observatories, the James Webb Space Telescope and the Hubble Space Telescope, have captured views of a unique NASA experiment designed to intentionally smash a spacecraft into a small asteroid in the world’s first-ever in-space test for planetary defense. ![]() For now, let’s savor the joy and wonder JWST is already providing. So, while predictions are useful, there are always uncertainties. “A performance prediction must be not just a handwave or a wish, it has to be based in quantitative numerical models and budgets including assessing risks and uncertainties,” he wrote. And while the ground test at Johnson Space Center’s thermal vacuum chamber could match the temperatures JWST would experience in space, Perrin said certain effects in the test chamber induced optical instabilities. Then, there’s no way to test on the ground how the telescope might work in Zero-g, as far as stability or if there will be any vibrations from the spacecraft. Perrin explains how gravity plays a role, in that JWST’s mirrors are designed to have a certain shape in Zero-g, but in all ground tests they were inevitably deformed by gravity, requiring numerical models to compensate. In many ways, the ground test environment was challenging and different from space.” “Yes, we had tested the whole optical train in cryo in Houston – but that didn’t actually tell us the ultimate performance,” he wrote. I mean, don’t they do tests on the ground to know the capabilities of telescopes before they launch? Yes, but ground tests don’t always tell the whole story, as Marshall Perrin, deputy project scientist for Webb at the Space Telescope Science Institute explained on Twitter. The astronomers and engineers actually seem astounded how good JWST’s resolution is turning out to be. Since #JWST's MIRI is getting lots of before-and-after love, I thought I'd do the same for the Fine Guidance Sensor: here's one of its two fields in the Large Magellanic Cloud as previously imaged in the near-IR by VISTA survey telescope. Not quite enough distant background galaxies for my taste, but #JWST is looking ever more awesome! /pyJ8VH4fUo And MIRI gives mid-IR! HST can’t get this wavelength.” “This is what you get with a large aperture! Resolution and sensitivity. ![]() ![]() “To be fair, WISE with its 40 cm diameter telescope was only half the size of Spitzer’s but both of them are tiny compared to JWST ” Gaspar said on Twitter. Then he realized Spitzer also has taken an image of the LMC, and then created the comparison of the three telescopes, seen in our lead image. ![]() Spitzer IRAC would have been better (slightly higher resolution and similar wavelength). This is the closest wavelength image I could find. How awesome is JWST/MIRI? Well, let's compare the latest press release image to that of the WISE all-sky survey at 4.6 microns. In their excitement, astronomers began posting comparison images - from previous telescopes to JWST in the same field of view - showing the evolution of improvement in resolution.Īstronomer Andras Gaspar, who works with JWST’s mid-infrared instrument, MIRI, compiled images from the WISE (Wide Infrared Survey Explorer) telescope to JWST’s image of the same field of view, the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.
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