James Webb Space Telescope Takes The Gloves Off

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) isn’t even operational yet, and already its gleaming golden mirrors have reached iconic status. It’s segmented mirror is reminiscent of an insect eye, and once that eye is unfolded at its eventual stationary location at L2, the JWST will give humanity its best view of the Universe yet. Now, NASA has unveiled the JWST’s mirrors in a clean room at the Goddard Space Flight Centre, giving us a great look at what the telescope will look like when it’s operational.Even if you didn’t know anything about the JWST, its capabilities, or its torturous path to finally being built, you would still look at it and be impressed. It’s obviously a highly technological, highly engineered, one of a kind object. In fact, you could be forgiven for mistaking it for a piece of modern art. (I’ve seen less appealing modern art, have you?)The fact that the JWST will outperform its predecessor, the Hubble, is a well-known fact. But how exactly it will outperform the Hubble, and what the JWST’s mission objectives are, is less well-known. It’s worth it to take a look at the objectives of the JWST, again, and re-visit the enthusiasm that has surrounded this mission since its inception.NASA groups JWST’s science objectives into four areas:

infrared vision that acts like a time-machine, giving us a look at the first stars and galaxies to form in the Universe, over 13 billion years ago. a comparative study of the stately spiral and elliptical galaxies of our age with the faintest, earliest galaxies to form. a probing gaze through clouds of dust, to watch stars and planets being born. a look at extrasolar planets, and their atmospheres, keeping an eye out for biomarkers.

There’s no question that the JWST will outdo the Hubble in the science department. But for a generation or two of people, the Hubble will always have a special place. It drew many of us in, with its breathtaking pictures of nebulae and other objects, its famous Deep Field study, and, of course, its science. But the JWST will be much more powerful, and will reveal to us a lot that has been hidden.And if engineering can reverse the polarity in the warp core without it going crit, we should be able to fire a beam of tachyon anti-matter neutrinos and de-cloak a Romulan Warbird at a distance of 3 AUs! Not bad for something Congress wanted to cancel.

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