The Beauty of Webb's Mirrors
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- Written by:
- Eric Villard
- View full credits
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope’s gold-plated, beryllium mirrors are beautiful feats of engineering. From the 18 hexagonal primary mirror segments, to the perfectly circular secondary mirror, to the slightly trapezoidal tertiary mirror, each reflector went through a rigorous refinement process before it was ready to mount on the telescope. This critical formation process had to be flawless. Webb will use the mirrors to peer far back in time to capture the first luminous objects and the creation of the first stars and galaxies. Watch the video to see how Webb’s mirrors were made.
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Credits
Please give credit for this item to:
NASA's Scientific Visualization Studio
Primary Mirror Segment Cryogenic Testing Image Credit: NASA/MSFC/David Higginbotham
Gold-coated Engineering Design Unit (EDU) Primary Mirror Segment Image Credit: Ball Aerospace/Drew Noel
A Clear Reflection on the Webb Telescope's Secondary Mirror Image Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn
James Webb Space Telescope Tertiary Mirror Image Credit: Ball Aerospace/Ben Gallagher, Quantum Coating Incorporated
May 4th - Goddard Takes a Selfie in JWST Image Credit: John Mather
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Writer
- Eric Villard (InuTec, LLC) [Lead]
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Producer
- Eric Villard (InuTec, LLC)
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