"A level that can detect the heat of a bumblebee at a distance of about a month."
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which is about to release the first space image that can reveal the secret of the birth of the universe, is 10 billion won by NASA and others. It was developed with an investment of US dollars (about 13 trillion won).
According to data released by NASA in a report to US President Joe Biden on the 11th (local time), one day before its public release, the Webb Space Telescope is behind Hubble and Spitzer, but surpasses it in performance.
While Hubble was primarily a visible-light and Spitzer-based telescope, the Webb telescope is able to capture near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths with unprecedented resolution.
Near and mid-infrared rays have longer wavelengths and can travel farther through clouds of cosmic dust or gas.
This allows scientists to use the Webb telescope to look between the solar system and the farthest observable early universe.
This made it possible to study each stage of the history of the universe.
In the data, NASA said, "It is possible to observe the universe as much as 13.5 billion years ago, hundreds of millions of years after the start of the Big Bang."
Webb telescope achieves this performance thanks to its size, structure and movable position.
First of all, the diameter of the main mirror, which collects the light of the object to be observed, is 6.5 m.
The size of the main mirror is directly related to the sensitivity of the telescope, and the Hubble and Spitzer telescopes are 2.4m and 0.85m respectively.
The main mirror, measuring 25 square meters in area, is made up of 18 hexagonal gold-plated beryllium mirrors joined together in a honeycomb shape.
This main mirror is protected by a sunshade, about the size of a tennis court (21×14m).
According to the 'sun protection factor (SPF)', which is the standard for sunscreen, this light-shielding film, which has a performance of about 1 million, is diamond-shaped and consists of 5 layers.
This shading shield blocks solar radiation, and the telescope side captures infrared heat, maintaining a very low temperature of -235°C, which allows observation of first-generation galaxies in the early stages of the universe.
This is in contrast to the temperature on the other side of the shading film, which is up to 125°C.
Launched in December last year, the Webb telescope orbits the Sun in a straight line with the Earth at the so-called second Lagrange point (L2).
The web telescope's shading shield always faces the sun in orbit, which blocks heat from the sun, earth and moon, protecting telescopes that are very sensitive to heat.
Also, since the telescope is aligned with the Earth, communication with the Earth is maintained at all times.
Further, at 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, L2 is the point at which the centripetal force of the sun and the earth balances the centrifugal force of the object to move into space, reducing the fuel consumption required to keep the telescope in position, NASA said.
(Photo = NASA website capture)