This launch test image is a subset of a NIRSpec multi-object spectroscopy exposure of a region near the center of our Milky Way galaxy. The two NIRSpec detectors and their micro-shutter arrays were used to package more than 200 spectra in a single exposure. Each horizontal strip is a spectrum that scientists will be able to analyze to better understand the composition and properties of the gas found between the stars in this region, for example, through the study of emission lines that appear in small , brighter and slightly sloping. vertical lines in these spectra. Credits: NASA / ESA / CSA and the NIRSpec team
Three of the four scientific instruments in NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope have completed their launch activities and are ready for science.
Each of Webb’s instruments has multiple modes of operation, which must be tested, calibrated, and finally verified before they can begin to do science. The latest instrument to complete this process, the Near Infrared Spectrograph, or NIRSpec, has four key modes that the team has officially confirmed as ready.
“We have achieved it: NIRSpec is ready for science! This is an amazing time, the result of the hard work of so many people and teams at JWST and NIRSpec for over two decades. I am very proud of everyone,” Pierre Ferruit said. , scientist of the Webb project at ESA (European Space Agency) and principal investigator of NIRSpec. “Now is the time for science, and I’m looking forward to seeing the first scientific results from NIRSpec’s observations. I have no doubt they will be fantastic. Many thanks to everyone who has made it possible over the years, a great work! “
The final mode verified for NIRSpec was multi-object spectroscopy mode, a key capability that allows Webb to capture spectra, or infrared rainbow, of hundreds of different cosmic targets at once. In multi-object spectroscopy mode, NIRSpec can individually open and close about 250,000 small blinds, all the width of a human hair, to see some parts of the sky while blocking others. By controlling this “micro-shutter array,” Webb can observe several specific targets while reducing the interference of others.
Confirmation of NIRSpec multi-object spectroscopy mode is the first time this capability has been verified for use from space. It will allow NIRSpec to characterize everything from the faintest objects in the universe to the formation of galaxies and star clusters.
NIRSpec was built for ESA by a consortium of European companies led by Airbus Defense and Space, with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, providing its detector and micro-shutter subsystems.
Of the 17 total instrument modes of the four Webb instruments, only one mode remains to be verified, for the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam). When the team confirms this remaining mode, the process of months of Webb’s preparation for science will formally end.
Webb’s commissioning process culminates on July 12, with the publication of the telescope’s first full-color images and spectroscopic data, and the official start of its scientific mission.
Webb’s NIRISS instrument is ready to see the cosmos in more than 2,000 infrared colors
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