spaceexp: JWST primary mirror is now fully deployed. One of the James Webb Space Telescope’s s

spaceexp:

JWST primary mirror is now fully deployed.

One of the James Webb Space Telescope’s science goals is to look back through time to when  galaxies were young.  Webb will do this by observing galaxies that are very distant, at over 13 billion light years away from us.  To see such far-off and faint objects, Webb needs a large mirror.    A telescope’s sensitivity, or how much detail it can see, is directly related to the size of the mirror area that collects light from the objects being observed. A larger area collects more light, just like a larger bucket collects more water in a rain shower than a small one.

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