Subscribe free to our newsletters via your
. 24/7 Space News .




SPACE SCOPES
Get Some Quick "Cool" Facts About NASA's Webb Telescope
by Staff Writers
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Apr 04, 2011


NASA Astrophysicist Amber Straughn demonstrates the cold environment where the Webb telescope will be by dipping flexible rubber surgical tubing into liquid nitrogen in the video. Credit: NASA

Interested in learning some quick facts about NASA's next-generation space telescope? NASA has created a short video to show you just how literally "cool" the James Webb Space Telescope really is. For one thing, Webb's infrared detectors will be cryogenically cooled to roughly -370F (-224C)!

In a 4 minute video produced at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., astrophysicist Amber Straughn takes you on a quick journey of facts and images to explain what the Webb will tell us about the cosmos.

Amber provides some amazing images of the Hubble and phenomena that it has seen while answering the question, how will Webb improve on what Hubble has seen? Amber tells viewers how Webb's use of infrared light is going to reveal a lot more than astronomers have ever seen before. She also explains how the Webb telescope can see farther back in space and time, and compares the size of the Webb and Hubble primary mirrors to the height of a person.

What's so cool about the Webb telescope? Amber demonstrates just how cold the temperatures of space are where Webb will orbit (over 1 million miles from the Earth) by dipping flexible rubber surgical tubing into liquid nitrogen. At room temperature, nitrogen is a gas; but is a liquid at very cold temperatures - below -321 Fahrenheit (F)/-196 Celsius (C) similar to what the Webb will experience and can instantly change the structure of the tubing, and Amber proves this by smashing it like glass!

Infrared light is heat radiation, so Webb's detectors also need to be kept very cold. That way, they can detect the faint infrared light given off from objects such as stars that are so far away. To keep the telescope that cold, there's a giant sunshield to reflect away the heat and light from the sun. Objects that the Webb's infrared detectors will observe would appear to our eyes as faint as a child's night light shining from the surface of the moon!

The video shows artist's concepts of some of the mysteries of the universe Webb telescope hopes to solve, like forming and evolving galaxies, the atmospheres of other planets outside of our solar system, the first stars in the universe, and the birth of stars.

The James Webb Space Telescope is named for the second NASA administrator, James Webb, who was the leader of NASA during the Apollo Moon program. The Webb telescope is a collaborative effort between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

.


Related Links
James Webb Space Telescope
Space Telescope News and Technology at Skynightly.com






Comment on this article via your Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, Hotmail login.

Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle








SPACE SCOPES
Webb Sunshield Like An Umbrella On The Shores Of The Universe
Greenbelt MD (SPX) Mar 22, 2011
The James Webb Space Telescope has a unique shield to protect its sensitive instruments from the heat and light of the sun. The sunshield is like an umbrella popping open on the shores of the cosmos that allows the instruments beneath it to see far into the universe. Like a beach umbrella protects people from the sun's heat and ultraviolet radiation, the sunshield protects the telescope an ... read more


SPACE SCOPES
84 Teams To Compete In NASA Great Moonbuggy Race

A New View Of Moon

Super Full Moon

LRO Delivers Treasure Trove Of Data

SPACE SCOPES
Study Of 'Ruiz Garcia' Rock Completed

Next Mars Rover Gets A Test Taste Of Mars Conditions

Alternatives Have Begun In Bid To Hear From Spirit

Opportunity Completes Study Of Ruiz Garcia Rock

SPACE SCOPES
Getting To Mars Means Stopping And Landing

Aerojet Propulsion Assists Voyager 1 Precision Maneuver At The Edge Of The Solar System

China set to outstrip US in science research output

NASA Makes Selection For Integrated Communications Services

SPACE SCOPES
What Future for Chang'e-2

China setting up new rocket production base

China's Tiangong-1 To Be Launched By Modified Long March II-F Rocket

China Expects To Launch Fifth Lunar Probe Chang'e-5 In 2017

SPACE SCOPES
Station Fires Engines To Avoid Orbital Debris

Successful First Mission For Aerospace Breakup Recorder

Three New ISS Crew Members Launch From Kazakhstan

Russia To Launch Space Freighter To ISS On April 27

SPACE SCOPES
Final Countdown Is Underway For Second Ariane 5 Flight Of 2011

Next Ariane 5 Mission Ready For March 30 Liftoff

Another Ariane 5 Completes Its Initial Build-Up At The Spaceport

Two Ariane 5 And One Soyuz Flights Are Now Being Prepared

SPACE SCOPES
White Dwarfs Could Be Fertile Ground For Other Earths

NASA Announces 2011 Carl Sagan Fellows

Report Identifies Priorities For Planetary Science 2013-2022

Planetary Society Statement On Planetary Science Decadal Survey For 2013-2022

SPACE SCOPES
New Laser Technology Could Revolutionize Communications

Japan dumps low-level radioactive water into sea

NASA Airborne Radar Set to Image Hawaiian Volcano

Affectiva technology taps into people's emotions




The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2014 - Space Media Network. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. Privacy Statement