The James Webb Space Telescope Gets Ready to Gaze Deep into the Universe

Powerful new tech and careful planning puts JWST in position to see further than any telescope before.

By Chris Holt
Mar 23, 2022 11:00 AM
JWST mirrors
(Credit: NASA/Ball Aerospace)

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Carrying out the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) ground-breaking mission required powerful technological innovations in optics, detectors, mirrors and a multitude of other areas. JWST's unprecedented scientific power is partly a function of the size and extreme sensitivity of its primary mirror, which collects the images from space. The gold-plated mirror is 21 feet in diameter, giving a collecting area of 273 square feet.

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