Science and Exploration

Cosmic Shutterbug: Behind the James Webb Space Telescope

By Marc Boucher
Status Report
August 20, 2015
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Cosmic Shutterbug: Behind the James Webb Space Telescope
Cosmic Shutterbug: Behind the James Webb Space Telescope.
STScI

This episode of “Behind the Webb” explores the multi-tasking capabilities of one of the cameras on the Webb Space Telescope, the Near-Infrared Spectrograph.
Newly designed technology known as “microshutters” – tens of thousands of tiny shutters that open and close to allow only the light from targeted objects to enter the instrument — enables scientists to study the spectrum of more than one galaxy at a time. As many as 100 objects can be simultaneously observed.

SpaceRef co-founder, entrepreneur, writer, podcaster, nature lover and deep thinker.