Design Summary for Space Telecope (Draft 1)

Griggs article "Why stars look spiky in images from the James Webb Space Telescope" (2022) explains why there exists a spiky feature when stars pictured by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). It is a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) telescope currently in L2 orbit (1.5 million kilometers) around Earth. The telescope features a primary mirror made from 18 hexagonal segments made of beryllium and coated with a thin layer of gold that unfold after launch. Onboard are four instruments: Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam), Near InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec), Fine Guidance Sensor / Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (FGS/NIRISS), and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). As mentioned on NASA's website, NIRCam is equipped with a coronagraph and will be the principal imager for the faintest and most distant objects in our universe. Supporting it, NIRSpec feeds on light collected by NIRCam and is capable of up to 100 simultaneous observations. The data collected is then further analyzed using spectrometry. The FGS/NIRISS is responsible for keeping the JWST pointed in the proper orientation and paramount to acquiring high-quality images. In addition, MIRI will deliver wide-angle images of the cosmos using an operating wavelength of 5 to 28 microns. The critical component of the JWST is its sun shield, insulating its sensors to achieve an optimal operating temperature of 39K (-234 C). With multiple enhanced features and innovations, the imaging accuracy of the JWST is far greater than the Hubble space telescope thus extending humanity’s ability to pursue deep space exploration for the next decade.