Design Summary for Space Telecope (Draft 2)

The article "Why stars look spiky in images from the James Webb Space Telescope" (Griggs, 2022) explains why there exists a spiky feature when stars are 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. Due to a variety of physical differences, the telescope produces images with six diffraction spikes as opposed to Hubble's four (Griggs, 2022). Onboard the JWST are three instruments: Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam), Near InfraRed Spectrograph (NIRSpec), and Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI). As mentioned on NASA's website (n.d), NIRCam is outfitted with a coronagraph and will be the primary imager for the universe's faintest and most distant objects. NIRSpec uses the light collected by NIRCam to perform up to 100 simultaneous observations. The data collected is subsequently analyzed using spectrometry. In addition, MIRI will deliver wide-angle images of the cosmos using an operating wavelength of 5 to 28 microns. A critical component of the JWST is its sun shield, insulating its sensors to achieve an optimal operating temperature of 39K (-234 C). The JWST space telescope's imaging accuracy has significantly increased as a result of several new and improved features, enabling astronomers to probe deeper into the cosmos.

References

Griggs, M. B. (2022, July 15). Why stars look spiky in images from the James Webb Space Telescope. The Verge. Retrieved September 26, 2022, from https://www.theverge.com/23220109/james-webb-space-telescope-stars-diffraction-spike