What was the initial problem with the Hubble telescope?
After 31 years in space, the Hubble Space Telescope unexpectedly shut down on June 13 after suffering a problem that initially appeared to be the fault of an aging memory module. But the more NASA personnel tried to fix the issue, the more slippery it became.
How good will the James Webb telescope be?
With its ability to view the Universe in longer wavelength infrared light, JWST will be capable of seeing some of the most distant galaxies in our Universe, certainly with more ease than than the visible/ultraviolet light view of Hubble.
What problems did the Hubble telescope encounter?
Hubble’s main mirror had a defect — a spherical aberration caused by a manufacturing error. The flaw was minute, at just 1/50th the thickness of a sheet of paper, but that was big enough to cause major imaging problems. It took three years before NASA could mount a repair mission.
What will the James Webb Space Telescope look like?
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope [CC BY 2.0]/Flickr Webb has a 6.5-meter diameter primary mirror, which would give it about seven times the collecting area over the mirrors available on the current generation of space telescopes.
What is the size of the Hubble Space Telescope?
The telescope has an expected mass about half of Hubble Space Telescope’s, but its primary mirror (a 6.5 meter diameter gold-coated beryllium reflector) will have a collecting area about five times as large (25 m2 or 270 sq ft vs. 4.5 m2 or 48 sq ft).
Will Webb be able to observe all the planets in space?
Yes! Webb will be able to observe the planets at or beyond the orbit of Mars, satellites, comets, asteroids, and Kuiper belt objects. Many important molecules, ices, and minerals have strong characteristic signatures at the wavelengths Webb can observe. Webb will also monitor the weather of planets and their moons.
What is the difference between the Herschel Space Observatory and Webb?
The Herschel Space Observatory was an infrared telescope built by the European Space Agency – it too orbited the L2 point (where Webb will be). The primary difference between Webb and Herschel is wavelength range: Webb goes from 0.6 to 28.5 microns; Herschel went from 60 to 500 microns.