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NASA to Discuss Progress as Webb Telescope’s Mirrors Align - NASA
NASA will hold a virtual media briefing at noon EDT Wednesday, March 16, to provide an update on the James Webb Space Telescope’s mirror alignment. Thewww.nasa.gov
I wondered about the flare too.The new photo (photos?) released 3/16 or 3/17 is touted as demonstrating the various lenses are aligning as per plan to create the sharp visual image desired.
I admit that artistically I see a beautiful picture of a star, but don’t those long rays emanating from it indicate asterism (I think I’m recalling the correct term) that demonstrates lenticular error, akin to coma?
Also: check out the near-twin star on the left-most side of the picture. It’s a six-pointed beauty, just the same as a child would draw! (errr…me, too).
Here’s a typical link to the photograph: New James Webb Space Telescope photo showcases single star in key mission milestone
Just had a thought: perhaps that alignment star’s output is too bright for sensors attempting to look at cross sections of flea hairs from 99 billion light years away. That the neighboring galaxies &c in the photo do not suffer such asterism might corroborate this?
Someone asked about it on the live stream, and that's basically what they said (I am not an optical engineer). They also mentioned the support struts for the secondary mirror as a contributing factor. It was also stated that they had achieved "diffraction-limited" focus, so can't really do any better due to physics.These spikes around bright objects are there due to the shape of finite size "aperture". When light pass by objects, part of it diffracts. Circular apertures create circular diffraction patterns overlayed to each bright points. In this case, dominant pattern is probably from the shape of the individual hexagonal primary mirrors.
This is the picture and which star on the left most side are you referring to?Also: check out the near-twin star on the left-most side of the picture. It’s a six-pointed beauty, just the same as a child would draw! (errr…me, too).
While it’s normal for spacecraft to experience impact events of this nature, NASA noted that this particular micrometeoroid, which hit the telescope between May 25 and May 27, was larger than any it had forecast when modeling such events prior to the mission’s launch in December 2021.
Analysis of the damage to the mirror segment is ongoing, but NASA said the early indications are that the telescope is continuing to perform “at a level that exceeds all mission requirements despite a marginally detectable effect in the data.”
Commenting on the strike, Paul Geithner, technical deputy project manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said: “We always knew that Webb would have to weather the space environment, which includes harsh ultraviolet light and charged particles from the sun, cosmic rays from exotic sources in the galaxy, and occasional strikes by micrometeoroids within our solar system. We designed and built Webb with performance margin — optical, thermal, electrical, mechanical — to ensure it can perform its ambitious science mission even after many years in space.”
While it’s normal for spacecraft to experience impact events of this nature, NASA noted that this particular micrometeoroid, which hit the telescope between May 25 and May 27, was larger than any it had forecast when modeling such events prior to the mission’s launch in December 2021.