NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope – Page 2

Webb mirrors fully deployed, clearing the way for alignment

10 January 2022 Astronomy Now

Two weeks after its Christmas Day launch, engineers completed the James Webb Space Telescope’s mirror deployment, clearing the way for alignment and focusing.

NASA holds up final Webb sunshade deploy to double check readiness

3 January 2022 Astronomy Now

Final tightening of Webb’s critical sunshade will clear the way for deployment of the telescope’s optical elements.

NASA resumes James Webb launch preps after incident review

26 November 2021 Astronomy Now

Engineers find no damage to James Webb Space Telescope after ground-processing incident that jostled the $10 billion observatory.

James Webb Space Telescope launch delayed pending ‘incident’ review

23 November 2021 Astronomy Now

Launch of the James Webb Space Telescope is being delayed at least four days after a ground processing “incident” at the French Guiana launch site.

NASA, ESA target 18 December for long-awaited James Webb launch

8 September 2021 Astronomy Now

NASA and ESA are targeting 18 December for the long-awaited launch of the James Webb Space Telescope.

Facing another launch delay, work resumes on James Webb Space Telescope

10 June 2020 Astronomy Now

After weeks of downtime during the COVID-19 pandemic, engineers are pressing ahead with work to ready the James Webb Space Telescope for launch

NASA again delays launch of James Webb Space Telescope

28 June 2018 Astronomy Now

An independent review board has recommended, with NASA concurrence, a 10-month delay for launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, to March 2021, to allow time to address a host of technical and managerial issues.

With luck, James Webb may spot first-generation stars

26 April 2018 Astronomy Now

With gravitational lensing, patience and a bit of luck, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope may be able to directly image some of the first stars to light up in the wake of the big bang birth of the universe.

First stars formed even later than previously thought

2 September 2016 Astronomy Now

ESA’s Planck satellite has revealed that the first stars in the universe started forming later than previous observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background indicated. This new analysis also shows that these stars were the only sources needed to account for reionising atoms in the cosmos, having completed half of this process when the universe had reached an age of 700 million years.

Space telescopes find clues to the birth of supermassive black holes

25 May 2016 Astronomy Now

Astrophysicists have taken a major step forward in understanding how supermassive black holes formed. Using data from three of NASA’s space telescopes, Italian researchers have found the best evidence to date that the direct collapse of a gas cloud produced supermassive black holes in the early universe.