Webb has Now Taken the Sharpest Image the Laws of Physics Allow - By Nancy_A
Engineers and scientists for the James Webb Space Telescope have completed two more steps in the telescope’s primary mirror alignment process, and in a briefing today, officials said JWST’s optical performance appears to be better than even the most optimistic predictions.
“We now have achieved what’s called ‘diffraction limited alignment’ of the telescope,” said Marshall Perrin, deputy project scientist for Webb at the Space Telescope Science Institute. “The mirrors are focused together as finely as the laws of physics allow, and this is the sharpest image you can get from a telescope of this size.”
“Basically, everywhere ever we look, it’s a Deep Field,” said Jane Rigby, Webb operations project scientist. “These engineering images are as sharp and crisp as images that Hubble can take, but at a wavelength of light that Hubble can’t see.” Perrin said the team still needs to “dial in very small adjustments to bring the telescope to even more exquisite sharpness,” and added, “It’s an absolute thrill to say that everything has worked. At no point the process did we have any issues with any of the deployments, and while there were some surprises in the data, the outcomes are far closer to our hoped-for predictions than we could have expected.
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