Squinting at space
New telescope will spy on faraway galaxies
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Thursday, 25, Jan 2007 05:53
A new piece of equipment enabling scientists to 'squint' at space will provide greater information about far away galaxies, Nasa claims.
So small that it is the width of just a few hairs, the new creation will be placed in the James Webb space telescope (JWST), which is due to lift off in ten years time.
"Microshutters" in the telescope will act like minute doorways, bringing stars and galaxies into better focus. As unwanted light from objects close to the telescope is blocked out, scientists will be able to get a better look at objects further away in space.
The technique is similar to squinting your eyes; when eyelashes come together the light closest to them is blocked out.
Last month the shutters passed important tests which proved they can withstand the pressures of being placed deep in space.
"We've worked on this design for over six years, opening and closing the tiny shutters tens of thousands of times in order to perfect the technology," said Murzy Jhabvala, chief engineer of Goddard's instrument technology and systems division.
Harvey Moseley, the microshutter principal investigator, said: "The microshutters are a remarkable engineering feat that will have applications both in space and on the ground, even outside of astronomy in biotechnology, medicine and communications."
Launched as the successor to the Hubble telescope, the JWST will search light coming from new stars and developing galaxies and infrared instruments will search through interstellar dust to watch the birth of stars and the development of potential solar systems.