NASA on Wednesday planned to release details about how the agency is sharpening the focus of the large main mirror on the James Webb Space Telescope, which will start peering at the earliest galaxies in the universe soon.

NASA plans to update the press and the public on James Webb progress during a virtual press conference at noon EDT.

Previously, the agency released early images from the telescope, which is in a unique orbit one million miles from Earth.

One of those images showed 18 copies of a star, one copy for each of the mirror's 18 segments. As scientists and engineers aligned those segments, NASA released another image showed a single, focused photo of the star.

The agency planned to release more images Wednesday demonstrating the improving focus of the $10 billion observatory.

Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for science, will lead the panel of experts speaking Wednesday.

Webb was built over 20 years by an international partnership with the European and Canadian space agency's.

It launched Dec. 25 from Europe's Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, South America.

NASA plans to release the first science images this summer after it prepares and commissions all instruments on the observatory.

"Webb will explore every phase of cosmic history -- from within our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe, and everything in between," NASA said in a news release Tuesday. "Webb will reveal new and unexpected discoveries and help humanity understand the origins of the universe and our place in it."

Webb will be more powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope, partly because it will gather infrared light, whereas Hubble uses visible light spectrums. The two telescopes may at times work in tandem to observe space objects and phenomena.

Source: United Press International

Related Links
James Webb Space Telescope
Stellar Chemistry, The Universe And All Within It

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