Glass has the ability to look back in time

The US Aerospace Agency (NASA) is building a telescope capable of observing events that occurred several billion years ago.

The US Aerospace Agency (NASA) is building a telescope capable of observing events that occurred several billion years ago.

Light from distant galaxies - several billion light-years from Earth - is so dim that the human eye cannot see. At the point of light, electromagnetic radiation has a wavelength in the visible spectrum, but when it reaches the earth it becomes an infrared ray that the human eye cannot perceive.

VOA said engineers at NASA's Goddard Space Center are building a telescope capable of receiving infrared rays called James Webb . They hope that after being launched into space in 2014, it will help them observe the events that happened a few billion years ago.

Picture 1 of Glass has the ability to look back in time

The golden hexagonal mirrors will be put together
create the main mirror of James Webb telescope. Photo: NASA.

Jonathan Gardner, deputy director of the James Webb telescope manufacturing project, revealed its eyepiece is a mirror with a diameter of 6.5 meters. This mirror is capable of receiving extremely weak infrared rays because it will be placed in a temperature of -273 degrees C. A radiator shield is about the same size as a tennis court that will prevent heat from the sun and Earth to eyepiece.

" We can look back in time because light takes time to travel from somewhere to the Earth. As we look further into the universe, the time that light travels from the point of origin to them If you look far enough, people can witness the past of the universe , " Gardner said.

James Webb telescope will be equipped with 3 infrared cameras. They are infrared cameras with the greatest sensitivity that humans have ever built. But the most interesting parts are 18 golden hexagonal mirrors. These mirrors are put together to form the main mirror. When flying in orbit, 18 mirrors can be separated or reassembled from the ground.

After being launched to a height of 1.5 million km in 2014, the James Webb telescope will operate for about 10 years. The operating time of the glass is short because it is pushed with jet engines. Thanks to these engines, glass can change position in the universe. According to calculations by scientists, the fuel for jet engines will run out after about 10 years.

Video illustrating the operation of James Webb telescope

Update 17 December 2018
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