The NASA James Webb Space Telescope teases a full-resolution image of the cosmos using its Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS), which was developed by the Canadian Space Agency. What may surprise you is that the FGS may be capable of capturing imagery, but it’s main purpose is to enable accurate science measurements and imaging with precision pointing.
This image that you’re looking at is the result of 72 exposures over 32 hours and is among the deepest images of the universe ever captured. Unlike other telescopes, when FGS’ aperture is open, it doesn’t use color filters like the other science instruments, but even so, it can still produce breathtaking views of the cosmos. When all of Webb’s instruments have been activated, it should be able to shed some light on these 301 unknown exoplanets.
- Bring to life the rocket launch that took humans to the moon with the meter-high (approximately 1: 110 scale) model rocket of the NASA Apollo Saturn V
- The Saturn V rocket kit includes 3 removable rocket stages (first, s-ii second, and s-ivb third) below the launch escape system, command and service...
- After building the Saturn V rocket, you can display the spacecraft horizontally with 3 stands; The Lunar Lander docks with the command and service...
With the Webb telescope achieving better-than-expected image quality, early in commissioning we intentionally defocused the guiders by a small amount to help ensure they met their performance requirements. When this image was taken, I was thrilled to clearly see all the detailed structure in these faint galaxies. Given what we now know is possible with deep broad-band guider images, perhaps such images, taken in parallel with other observations where feasible, could prove scientifically useful in the future,” said Neil Rowlands, program scientist for Webb’s Fine Guidance Sensor, at Honeywell Aerospace.
