The most powerful astronomical telescope in history, the James Webb Space Telescope, is already in place, located at the L2 point of Theragrange, 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth, attitude adjustment and lens calibration are basically completed, the next step it will begin observation and testing work, so where will the strongest telescope in history first turn the lens to?
Simulation of the James Webb Space Telescope in space
The James Webb Space Telescope at L2 point in Lagrange will operate there for a long time.
NASA released news in late January that the James Webb Space Telescope would first turn the lens to a star called HD 84406 to conduct experimental observations. This star is located in the constellation Ursa Major, which is very close to the big dipper that we are familiar with, not far ahead of the big dipper, as shown below:
This star was unknown before, so why did the Webb telescope choose this mysterious star? Data show that HD 84406 is a sun-like star, that is, it is about the same size as our sun, and its characteristics are similar, they are all yellow dwarfs, the star activity is relatively stable, such a star can emit almost the same luminosity in nearly ten billion years.
But the luminosity of yellow dwarfs is not strong, much lower than that of blue dwarfs and some supergiants, and because HD 84406 is 260 light-years away from Earth, its apparent magnitude from Earth is only 6.9 magnitudes, and we cannot see it directly with our eyes.
Many friends may wonder why the first measurement of the Weber Space Telescope did not select a more famous star. For example, the brightest Sirius, Orion's Betelgeuse, Betelgeuse, the nearest Proxima Centauri and the South Gate two ab binary, as well as the Big Dipper or North Star, etc., this is because Weber's ultra-sensitive astronomical telescope design was originally designed to observe those very dim light objects, relatively speaking, the brightness of these stars is too high, and the Weber telescope mainly observes the far infrared band, so the above stars are not very suitable, and many of them are variable stars, and the light is unstable. Not suitable for testing.
HD 84406 is a star with a four-magnitude rating of only 6.9, but it is still extremely bright for the Weber telescope, and this experimental measurement of it will also get the clearest picture of it, but the purpose of observing HD 84406 is mainly to calibrate its optical system coordination and accuracy, adjust the focusing performance of all lenses to the best value at the nano-level fineness, and prepare for subsequent observations.
After debugging, scientists will use the James Webb Space Telescope to observe the distant, dim universe in the infrared band.
So which objects will the James Webb telescope observe next? In fact, its observation projects have been roughly determined, which are roughly distant galaxies, intergalactic media, large-scale cosmic structures, Milky Way nebulae, star-level main sequence stars, white dwarfs, neutron stars and black holes, planets, moons, asteroids, comets in the solar system, and some exoplanets. With its super far-infrared observation capabilities, it can also observe the scene at the beginning of the birth of the universe.
Resources:
Global Network February 3 article "James Webb Space Telescope Has Turned On High-Gain Antenna and Begun Calibration for a Star"
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