Post #345

Spitzer walked so Webb could run 👟 The Spitzer Space Telescope, NASA’s infrared Great Observatory, provided high-resolution images of the infrared universe, which paved the way for the James Webb Space Telescope. As Webb continues final instrument calibrations and prepares for the release of the first images in the upcoming weeks, these images from the mirror alignment process give us a preview of Webb’s power. Compare these two images captured of the same view of a portion of the Large Magellanic Cloud, a small irregular galaxy near our own. Webb’s MIRI instrument brings the details we see in the Spitzer image into sharper focus. Webb’s image reveals tendrils of interstellar gas in unprecedented detail. Try this for size: The most important component of a telescope is its primary mirror. The larger the mirror, the more light it can collect, and the smaller, dimmer, and more distant objects it can detect. Webb’s mirror boasts an area almost 45 times greater than Spitzer’s.