Small meteorite collides with NASA’s James Webb space telescope

The collision caused one of the telescope’s mirrors to be out of view, but fortunately, it did not affect the telescope’s schedule or operation.

According to NASA’s announcement, this small meteorite hit the telescope worth $ 10 billion at the end of May and had a negligible effect on the telescope’s data. NASA says this is the largest and fifth collision for James Webb since the telescope was launched into space in December 2021. “Following initial assessments, the research team found the telescope is still performing at a level beyond all mission requirements. Thorough measurements and analysis are underway,” the statement said. Currently, engineers have begun to adjust the part of the mirror that has collided to overcome the impact. At the same time, NASA also convened a group of engineers to study how to avoid similar collisions in the future.

In January of this year, the James Webb telescope reached its final destination nearly a month after it was launched into space. This destination is about 1.6 million km from Earth. It is expected that James Webb will send back the first color images of the universe in July.

James Webb is the successor of the legendary Hubble telescope and is a super telescope unprecedented size and complexity. James Webb’s mirror part is 6.5m in diameter, 3 times larger than Hubble’s, and is made up of 18 pieces of hexagonal mirrors. James Webb operates in orbit around the Sun 1.5 million km from Earth, much farther than the Hubble telescope, which has been operating in Earth’s orbit at an altitude of about 610 km since 1990.

Scientists hope James Webb will help answer fundamental questions about the universe, going back in time 13.5 billion years ago. The new telescope will also provide new information about the nearly 5,000 planets beyond the solar system.

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