Largest space telescope will see deeper into space

When scientists are looking into space, the more they can see, the easier it is to piece together the puzzle of the cosmos. The James Webb Space Telescope's mirror blanks have now been constructed. When polished and assembled, together they will form a mirror whose area is over seven times larger than the Hubble Telescope's mirror. 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 cosmos. A larger area collects more light to see deeper into space, just like a larger bucket collects more water in a rain shower than a small one. The larger mirror also means the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will have excellent resolution. That's why the telescope's mirror is made up of 18 mirror segments that form a total area of 25 square-meters (almost 30 square yards) when they all come together.If the mirror were assembled completely and fully opened on the ground, there would be no way to fit it into a rocket. Therefore, the Webb Telescope's 18 mirror segments must be set into place when the telescope is in space. Engineers solved this problem by allowing the segmented mirror to fold, like the leaves of a drop-leaf table

Source: physorg.comAdded: 26 February 2007