The Webb Space Telescope’s instruments have been in safe mode intermittently since December 7, but scientific operations resumed earlier this week, NASA said in a press release on Wednesday.
Webb was in safe mode—during which all the observatory’s nonessential systems are turned off, which means no scientific operations—multiple times in the last two weeks, the release stated. Though NASA says the issue is resolved and “the observatory and instruments are all in good health,” the agency also did not report the glitch until yesterday.
Webb is a $10 billion space observatory that images the cosmos at infrared and near-infrared wavelengths. It is a state-of-the-art telescope that has captured our attention in its first six months of scientific observations, revealing iconic structures like the Pillars of Creation in new light.
The NASA release says the “software fault triggered in the attitude control system,” the apparatus that guides where the observatory is pointing. That’s most directions, except that the telescope was turned away from the micrometeoroid avoidance zone in the spring, to protect the telescope’s mirrors. That maneuver came following a space rock strike that damaged one of the mirror panels.
The pauses added up to several days that the telescope could not do observations this month, NASA said. Now, science is fully back underway, and the Webb team is working to reschedule the observations affected by the glitch.
Yesterday, Webb posted the cosmic equivalent of a holiday card: an image of the spiral galaxy NGC 7469, which bears a resemblance to a wreath. The galaxy is 220 million light-years away and looks distinctly serene in Webb’s eye. Sharp diffraction spikes spread from the galactic center, where a supermassive black hole resides.
Besides seeing known objects in new ways, Webb has imaged light from the earliest corners of the universe, light which was too faint for older observatories to see.
One of Webb’s core scientific goals is to inspect ancient light sources—the earliest stars and galaxies—to understand how those objects emerged and evolved in deep time.
In other words, it’d be really nice if Webb could avoid safe mode, for the sake of science. But better safe than sorry, and now that the telescope is back to business, let’s hope it stays that way.
More: Webb Telescope Brings a Once-Fuzzy Galaxy Into Focus
The world’s largest radio telescope is officially under construction in Australia, where work is underway on one component of what will be an intercontinental instrument. When operational in the late 2020s, the telescope will offer a sharper, wider view of the universe in radio wavelengths.
The telescope is called the Square Kilometer Array, a reflection of scientists’ original goal of having a collecting surface of a square kilometer; the actual SKA will have a collecting area of half a square kilometer. According to an SKA Observatory release, teams celebrated the commencement of construction with ceremonies at project locations in Australia and South Africa.
The array will be a combination of nearly 200 radio dishes and 130,000 dipoles, which are smaller, ground-based antennae. In other words, the SKA is one big telescope made up of many smaller telescopes.
The array’s radio dishes will be located in South Africa’s Karoo Desert, and its Christmas-tree-shaped antennae will be situated deep in the Western Australian outback. Radio telescopes need radio silence to be able to focus on the long wavelengths from deep space, which is why the SKA’s organizers chose these remote set-ups.
Having such massive scientific instruments in wild places doesn’t come without difficulties. In Australia, ants can fry the electronics, and termites build mounds around telescope antennae. Kangaroos occasionally kick over existing instruments, and giant lizards named Steve walk around the arrays like they own the place. And given the near-total absence of humans, they kind of do.
Numerous predecessors to the SKA exist already, including the MeerKAT array in South Africa, which took a stunning image of the ‘threads’ in the galactic center. But only now are pieces of the SKA’s core being constructed, after years of design and planning. The completed SKA is expected to be operational in the late 2020s.
Bigger telescope arrays offer better resolution—hence the excitement surrounding what will be the world’s largest radio telescope array.
“To put the sensitivity of the SKA into perspective, the SKA could detect a mobile phone in the pocket of an astronaut on Mars, 225 million kilometers away,” Danny Price, a senior research fellow at the Curtin Institute of Radio Astronomy, told AFP.
The SKA will observe massive compact objects like pulsars and black holes to better understand gravitational waves, as well as the epoch of reionization, when the first galaxies and stars appeared, and the first billion years of the universe.
The Webb Space Telescope is also looking at some of the universe’s earliest light, but it observes at the infrared and near-infrared wavelengths, rather than at the much longer radio wavelengths.
Combine these cutting-edge observatories with the number of new space missions set to launch at the turn of the decade, and it’s clear that we’re in for some very interesting astrophysical insights in the years ahead.
More: Webb Telescope Turns Its Eye on Saturn’s Mysterious Moon Titan
A view of Webb’s secondary mirror, captured during the telescope’s cryogenic testing. Photo: Ball Aerospace
The Webb Space Telescope has been dutifully beaming back incredible images of the cosmos since its “perfect” alignment earlier this year—but nothing is entirely perfect, even a $10 billion telescope. One of Webb’s observing mechanisms has apparently run into a bit of trouble, and mission engineers are working to figure out a solution.
On August 24, a mechanism used to support Webb’s medium-resolution spectroscopy (MRS) experienced “increased friction” while being set up for a science observation, NASA said in a blog post on Tuesday. The space agency called for a meeting of an anomaly review board on September 6 to “assess the best path forward.” As the board works to analyze the issue and develop strategies to resolve it, NASA has paused observations using this particular mode.
The MRS observing mode is part of Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI), which uses a camera and a spectrograph to see light in the mid-infrared part of the spectrum (wavelengths that are longer than what human eyes can see). MIRI has four observing modes: imaging, coronagraphic imaging, low-resolution spectroscopy, and medium-resolution spectroscopy. MRS is useful for observing signals from the interaction of light and matter, like the emissions coming from molecules and dust in planet-forming disks.
The glitch in question affected a mechanism that functions like a “grating wheel” for the MRS observing mode, allowing scientists to select between short, medium, and longer wavelengths when making observations using that particular mode, according to NASA.
For now, that mode is on hold while NASA tries to fix the issue. “The observatory is in good health, and MIRI’s other three observing modes – imaging, low-resolution spectroscopy, and coronagraphy – are operating normally and remain available for science observations,” the space agency wrote.
G/O Media may get a commission
21% Off
50″ Amazon Fire 4K TV With A 4-Year Protection Plan
Keep it covered Means you’ll be protected from mechanical and electrical failures and faults on your 4K ultra HD television that has Alexa control, and acts as a hub for loads of streaming services, making them not only easier to access, but also look fantastic.
Webb has recently wowed us with images of neighboring planets Mars and Jupiter, but the telescope is also gearing up to bring us unprecedented views of the distant universe from its perch in space 1 million miles away from Earth. Webb is expected to operate for about 20 years or longer, so hopefully it can overcome a few technical glitches along its journey.
More: Whoa, NASA Just Turned the First Webb Telescope Images Into Sounds
On the left is a monochromatic image showing infrared data from Webb of the Southern Ring Nebula. On the right is a processed image showing the same view in full color.Image: Gizmodo/NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI
On July 12, the first full-color images from the Webb Space Telescope showed countless nebulae, galaxies, and a gassy exoplanet as they had never been seen before. But Webb only collects infrared and near-infrared light, which the human eye cannot see—so where are these gorgeous colors coming from?
Image developers on the Webb team are tasked with turning the telescope’s infrared image data into some of the most vivid views of the cosmos we’ve ever had. They assign various infrared wavelengths to colors on the visible spectrum, the familiar reds, blues, yellows, etc. But while the processed images from the Webb team aren’t literally what the telescope saw, they’re hardly inaccurate.
“Something I’ve been trying to change people’s minds about is to stop getting hung up on the idea of ‘is this what this would look like if I could fly out there in a spaceship and look at it?’” said Joe DePasquale, a senior data image developer at the Space Telescope Science Institute, in a phone call with Gizmodo. “You don’t ask a biologist if you can somehow shrink down to the size of a cell and look at the coronavirus.”
Webb’s first test images helped check its mirrors’ alignment and captured an orange-tinted shot of the Large Magellanic Cloud. Those early snapshots were not representative color images; one used a monochromatic filter (its image was grayscale) and the other just translated infrared light into the red-to-yellow visible color bands, so the team could see certain features of the cloud they imaged. But now, with the telescope up and running, the images that get released are full of blazing color, like this recent portrait of the Cartwheel Galaxy.
G/O Media may get a commission
Astronomy is often done outside the visible spectrum, because many of the most interesting objects in space are shining brightly in ultraviolet, x-rays, and even radio waves (which category light falls into depends on the photon’s wavelength). The Webb Telescope is designed to see infrared light, whose wavelengths are longer than red visible light but shorter than microwaves.
Infrared light can penetrate thick clouds of gas and dust in space, allowing researchers to see previously hidden secrets of the universe. Especially intriguing to scientists is that light from the early universe has been stretched as the universe has expanded, meaning what was once ultraviolet or visible light may now be infrared (what’s known as “redshifted” light).
“These are instruments that we’ve designed to extend the power of our vision, to go beyond what our eyes are capable of doing to see light that our eyes are not sensitive to, and to resolve objects that we can probably see with just our eyes,” DePasquale said. “I’m trying to bring out the most detail and the most richness of color and complexity that’s inherent in the data without actually changing anything.”
Webb’s raw images are so laden with data that they need to be scaled down before they can be translated into visible light. The images also need to be cleaned of artifacts like cosmic rays and reflections from bright stars that hit the telescope’s detectors. If you look at a Webb image before processing work is done, it’ll look like a black rectangle peppered with some white dots.
A raw image of the Carina Nebula as seen by NIRCam, before the infrared light is translated into visible wavelengths.Image: Space Telescope Science Institute
“I think there’s some connotations that go along with ‘colorizing’ or ‘false color’ that imply there’s some process going on where we’re arbitrarily choosing colors to create a color image,” DePasquale said. “Representative color is the most preferred term for the kind of work that we do, because I think it encompasses the work that we do of translating light to create a true color image, but in a wavelength range that our eyes are not sensitive to.”
Longer infrared waves are assigned redder colors, and the shortest infrared wavelengths are assigned bluer colors. (Blue and violet light has the shortest wavelengths within the visible spectrum, while red has the longest.) The process is called chromatic ordering, and the spectrum is split into as many colors as the team needs to capture the full spectrum of light depicted in the image.
“We have filters on the instruments that collect certain wavelengths of light, which we then apply a color that is most closely what we think it will be on the [visible] spectrum,” said Alyssa Pagan, a science visuals developer at the Space Telescope Science Institute, in a phone call with Gizmodo.
The chromatic ordering depends too on what elements are being imaged. When working with narrow-band wavelengths in optical light—oxygen, ionized hydrogen, and sulfur, Pagan suggests—the latter two both emit in red. So the hydrogen might get shifted to green visible light, in order to give the viewer more information.
“It’s a balance between the art and the science, because you want to showcase science and the features, and sometimes those two things don’t necessarily work together,” Pagan added.
Webb’s first representative color images were released July 12, over six months after the telescope launched from an ESA spaceport in French Guiana. From there, Webb traveled about a million miles to L2, a point in space where gravitational effects allow spacecraft to stay in place without burning much fuel.
The telescope unfolded itself on the way to L2, so once it was there, mission scientists could get started on aligning the $10 billion observatory’s mirrors and commissioning its instruments. The telescope has four instruments: a near-infrared camera (NIRCam), a near-infrared spectrograph, a mid-infrared instrument (MIRI), and a fine guidance sensor and slitless spectrograph for pointing at targets precisely and characterizing exoplanet atmospheres.
The voluminous amounts of dust in some galaxies and nebulae are transparent to NIRCam, allowing it to capture bright stars at shorter wavelengths. MIRI, on the other hand, can observe discs of material that will give way to planets as well as dust warmed by starlight.
When telescope images are being assembled, image processors work with instrument scientists to decide which features of a given object should be highlighted in the image: its piping hot gas, perhaps, or a cool dusty tail.
When Webb imaged Stephan’s Quintet, a visual grouping of five galaxies, the finished product was a 150-million-pixel image made up of 1,000 images taken by both MIRI and NIRCam. When just seen by MIRI, though, hot dust dominates the image. In the background of the MIRI images, distant galaxies glow in different colors; DePasquale said the team calls them “skittles.”
DePasquale and Pagan helped create the Webb images as we would eventually see them, rich in color and cosmic meaning. In the case of the sweeping shot of the Carina Nebula’s cosmic cliffs, different filters captured the ionized blue gas and red dust. In initial passes at the nebula image, the gas obscured the dust’s structure, scientists asked the image processing team to “tone down the gas” a bit, Pagan said.
Collecting light in Webb’s hexagonal mirrors is only half the battle when it comes to seeing the distant universe. Translating what’s there is another beast entirely.
NASA held a press conference Monday morning to discuss the precise alignment of the Webb Space Telescope and the spacecraft’s upcoming scientific operations. The space agency also released images from the telescope that put Webb’s progress on dazzling display.
“I’m delighted to report that the telescope alignment has been completed with performance even better than we had anticipated,” said Michael McElwain, a Webb observatory project scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in a NASA press conference. “This is an extraordinary milestone for humanity.”
Webb sits at an observational point called L2 nearly 1 million miles from Earth, where it will look further back in time than the Hubble Space Telescope. (Hubble will continue to operate alongside Webb once the latter is operational).
The $10 billion telescope’s primary science goals are to study how stars are born and give rise to planetary systems, to investigate the evolution of galaxies, exoplanets, and objects in our solar system, and to look at the universe’s earliest light, in the hopes that we can figure out how the first stars and galaxies emerged.
The preparation and testing of the telescope’s science instruments (a process called commissioning) will take about two months to complete. Only once the commissioning is complete can Webb begin taking the scientific images that will define its tenure in space.
But some images are already being collected, to make sure the telescope is functioning properly. Webb’s coldest instrument—the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI)—recently took a test image of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way that was previously imaged by the now-retired Spitzer Space Telescope’s Infrared Array Camera.
Webb’s image of the same region makes Spitzer’s look like a finger painting, showing interstellar gas clearly distributed across the star field. The stars—blots, in Spitzer’s view—are seven-pointed beacons of light in the MIRI test.
“This is a really nice science example of what Webb will do for us in the coming years,” said Christopher Evans, a Webb project scientist with the European Space Agency, in the press conference. Evans said that Spitzer was useful for surveys of objects like the Large Magellanic Cloud, but (as you may notice) its images were limited by their resolution. Webb is way less limited. “This is just going to give us an amazing view of the processes in a different galaxy for the first time, cutting through the dust,” Evans said.
Webb’s Near Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSPEC) is also a big upgrade on previous space telescope technology. Evans said that older space observatories have only been able to see spectra one target at a time; NIRSPEC will be able to observe 100 targets simultaneously. That’s a boon for the many thousands of scientists all hoping to use Webb data in their research.
Webb’s next steps will focus on taking images of its science targets, known as early release observations. These will not only be the first images of Webb science targets, but they will be the first images processed into full color. (Webb sees the cosmos in the infrared and near-infrared wavelengths, but the images will be translated into visible light.)
Klaus Pontoppidan, a Webb project scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute, said in the briefing that the chief differences between the most recent images and the ones to come are that the former were taken to test the telescope’s ability to see clearly, whereas the latter will test the telescope’s ability to image science targets. Pontoppidan wouldn’t elaborate on what Webb team will capture in the early release observations—the targets are a “surprise,” he said.
From these early results, it appears that Webb will be something of an intergalactic palantir, dropping scientists into various parts of deep space that were previously inaccessible. It’s the next best thing to actually being there for the universe’s infancy.
The telescope was designed to operate for five years at minimum, but its ultra-precise launch back in December means the telescope may have enough fuel to stay in position for more than 20 years. Buckle up.
More: Webb Space Telescope Could Get a Good Look at the Next ‘Oumuamua
Images from the Webb Telescope’s instrument suite of focused stars indicate that the mirrors are fully aligned.Image: NASA/STScI
The Webb Space Telescope is one step closer to being fully operational: It is now fully aligned and calibrating its suite of four instruments to collect data on our universe. NASA announced the new milestone in a blog post yesterday.
Webb, a collaboration between NASA, the Canadian Space Agency, and the European Space Agency, is humanity’s newest attempt at unlocking the secrets of the cosmos. The aim of the telescope is to collect data on potentially habitable exoplanets, as well as to observe distant stars and fledgling galaxies in infrared using its golden honeycomb array. Now, its seventh and final stage of alignment is officially complete after its launch back in December 2021, and it has some amazing photos from each of its four instruments to prove it.
“These remarkable test images from a successfully aligned telescope demonstrate what people across countries and continents can achieve when there is a bold scientific vision to explore the universe,” said Lee Feinberg, Webb optical telescope element manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in the NASA blog post.
Now that the mirrors are fully aligned, the telescope is successfully supplying its four instruments with incoming light from the far reaches of the universe, capturing images of stars in sharp focus. The instruments are the NIRCam, a near-infrared camera for imaging young stars and forming galaxies; the NIRSpec, a powerful spectrograph to study light from distant sources; MIRI, a camera and spectrograph that operate in the mid-infrared wavelengths; and FGI/NIRISS, which allows the telescope to aim with precision and study exoplanets.
Webb is now moving into the process of instrument commissioning, where these incredibly sensitive instruments will be tested across different configurations to ensure they are ready for full-scale operation. As a part of this process, the telescope will point at different patches of the sky to ensure that it’s thermally stable. Instrument commissioning should take around two months, and the official start of the science mission should finally begin this summer.
A long-exposure image showing a Starlink satellite train as viewed from Kansas on May 6, 2021. Photo: Reed Hoffmann (AP)
A new center established by the International Astronomical Union is seeking to protect the interests of astronomers as the number of satellites in Earth orbit continues to climb.
The Center for the Protection of the Dark and Quiet Sky from Satellite Constellation Interference, announced February 2, will be hosted by the National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory (NOIRLab) and the Square Kilometre Array Organization (SKAO). NOIRLab will concern itself with optical astronomy, while SKAO will look into issues related to radio astronomy.
“The new Centre is an important step towards ensuring that technological advances do not inadvertently impede our study and enjoyment of the sky,” Debra Elmegreen, the president of IAU, said in a statement. “I am confident that the Centre co-hosts can facilitate global coordination and bring together the necessary expertise from many sectors for this vital effort.”
The Centre will encourage satellite providers to minimize light pollution and other forms of astronomical interference, encourage governments and state officials to better regulate this blooming industry, and support the global community of astronomers who are now having to deal with problems caused by satellite interference.
Jessica West, a senior researcher on space security at Project Ploughshares, a Canadian peace and security research institute, said we’re reaching the point where our ability to observe space is being significantly harmed.
“This is a big problem,” she wrote to me in an email. “Astronomy is key to our exploration and use of space, deep space navigation, planetary defence from asteroids, and our knowledge of the Earth, Solar System, and Universe. And watching the night sky is core to who we are as humans. Losing that is a loss for every single person around the world.”
The cost of launching rockets and building satellites has never been lower. This is resulting in a mad rush to claim prime real estate in Earth orbit, as it now represents a viable place to do business. The private sector’s use of large fleets of interconnected satellites to provide broadband internet to paying customers is currently the most dominant example. Elon Musk has taken an early lead in this race for space, as SpaceX has now launched more than 2,000 Starlink satellites, with plans to launch at least 2,400 more. London-based OneWeb has launched hundreds of similar satellites, while Jeff Bezos’s Project Kuiper and the European Union intend to do the same.
The problem with so many satellites up there is that they’re messing with optical and radio observations. Long exposures at optical wavelengths are particularly affected; research from last month found a dramatic increase in the number of images taken during the twilight hours that contained streaks caused by Starlink satellites. That’s a problem for astronomy, but also for our security; views of the horizon at dusk and dawn are critical for detecting threatening near-Earth objects. At the same time, radio interference produced by satellite data downlinks could make it difficult to study the cosmic microwave background, for example.
Hence this coordinated response from astronomers. The IAU is positioning the new Center as the “the leading voice for astronomical matters that relate to the protection of the dark and quiet sky from satellite constellations and to act as a hub of information and resources to which any stakeholder group will be able to contribute and from which they can draw in support of their own activities.”
Accordingly, the group will call upon astronomers, satellite operators, government regulators, and the wider community to get involved. Satellite companies will be asked to provide more information about their space-based assets, such as coordinates and predicted movements. The group will also help astronomers to deal with associated problems, like providing software to remove visual artifacts from telescope images. The Centre will also encourage an open forum to discuss voluntary measures, such as reducing the reflectivity of satellites and for satellite companies to use higher, less obtrusive orbits.
West agrees that solutions exist.
“It’s a not a question of satellites versus astronomy, but rather how to mediate the different needs and interests and values that coalesce in outer space, including those that are less powerful,” she explained. “This requires open dialogue and coordinated and collective action. The international astronomy community is showing us how to do this. And the world is listening. This is a critical moment for space governance.”
This is a good and necessary starting point. Astronomers and regulators are currently behind in this struggle for space, if that’s a fair way to describe it, with satellite operators, for the most part, currently setting the rules. And by rules, I mean no rules—hence the problem. The IAU’s new Center has very good intentions. Let’s hope the relevant stakeholders are listening and willing to respond.
More: Elon Musk’s Starlink Is Causing More Streaks to Appear in Space Images.
NASA says it has no plans for renaming the James Webb Space Telescope, which was named after a former administrator who permitted the government to discriminate against lesbian and gay employees.
Speaking to NPR, NASA Administrator Bill NelsonClarence (Bill) William NelsonNASA won’t rename James Webb Space Telescope despite controversy FAA unveils new system to reduce planes’ times on taxiway Technology is easy but politics is hard for NASA’s Lunar Human Landing System MORE said, “We have found no evidence at this time that warrants changing the name of the James Webb Space Telescope.”
The telescope is regarded as the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope and is expected to launch by the end of this year.
However more than a thousand people signed a petition earlier this year calling for the telescope to be renamed due to Webb allegedly being complicit in the purge of LGBT people from government service, known as the “Lavender Scare.”
The letter reads that “under Webb’s leadership, queer people were persecuted. Those who would excuse Webb’s failure of leadership cannot simultaneously award him credit for his management of Apollo.”
After the letter was made public, NASA opened an investigation to examine the allegation against Webb.
Senior science communications officer Karen Fox told NPR, “We’ve done as much as we can do at this point and have exhausted our research efforts.”
“Those efforts have not uncovered evidence warranting a name change,” she added.
NPR noted that the decision to name the telescope after Webb — which breaks from the tradition of naming telescopes after famous scientists — was made by former NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe.
O’Keefe, who like Webb also does not come from a scientific background, said he decided to name the telescope after Webb following a casual conversation with other NASA employees and said others seemed to like the idea. While surprised by the outrage, O’Keefe said he understood the concern.
“This is an important matter of history, to understand how it is we could possibly have tolerated the purging of talented professionals on the basis of their personal preferences,” O’Keefe said to NPR. “That’s just so objectionable. No question about it, and I applaud the effort to surface the visibility and awareness of it.”
However, he added that he hadn’t seen evidence to suggest Webb was directly involved in the purging of LGBT people from government jobs.