Webb Telescope Engineering Selfie

The James Webb Space Telescope used the NirCam, the Near Infrared Imaging camera. This raw image was made using the near infrared F140M & F210M filters.

The Primary Mirror is in the darkest shadow of the sunshield and is lit only by a very faint star, that is below naked eye visibility.

The temperature of the Primary Mirror ranges from minus 238.75 Celsius / minus 397.25 Fahrenheit or 34.4 Kelvin to minus 218.65 Celsius / minus 361.57 Fahrenheit or 54.5 Kelvin. It is hoped that the mirror will cool further by a few degrees as this will improve the sensitivity of the MIRI.

The MIRI (mid infrared) camera detector had to be cooled to minus 267 Celsius / minus 449 Fahrenheit or 6 Kelvin in order to take mid infrared images!!!!!

The JWST was launched on Christmas Day 2021 on board an Ariane 5 booster from the Kourou Spaceport, French Guiana.

Text: Andrew R Brown.
NASA/ESA/CSA/STSCI. James Webb Space Telescope.