NASA's new space telescope has captured its first starlight and even taken a selfie of its giant, gold mirror.
Two weeks from its Christmas Day launch, the replacement telescope for the Hubble has completed its unfolding process and now sits 600,000 miles from Earth.CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA’s new space telescope has captured its first starlight and even taken a selfie of its giant, gold mirror.
Over the next few months, the hexagonal mirror segments — each the size of a coffee table — will be aligned and focused as one, allowing science observations to begin by the end of June. NASA did not detect the crippling flaw in Hubble's mirror until after its 1990 launch; more than three years passed before spacewalking astronauts were able to correct the telescope's blurry vision.
Webb’s 21-foot , gold-plated mirror is the largest ever launched into space. An infrared camera on the telescope snapped a picture of the mirror as one segment gazed upon the targeted star.NASA released the selfie, along with a mosaic of starlight from each of the mirror segments. The 18 points of starlight resemble bright fireflies flitting against a black night sky.
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