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The James Webb Space Telescope since becoming operational in 2022 has uncovered numerous surprises about what things were like in the universe’s early stages.
We now can add one more: observations of a galaxy that was already ‘dead; when the universe was only 5% of its current age.
Scientists said on March 6 Webb had spotted a galaxy where star formation had already ceased by roughly 13.1 billion years ago.
700 million years after the Big Bang event that gave rise to the universe.
Many dead galaxies have been detected over the years, but this is the earliest by about 500 million years.
James Webb Telescope – Basic details
The James Webb Space Telescope is a large space telescope launched in December 2021.
It is the most powerful telescope ever built and is designed to observe the universe in the infrared spectrum.
This allows it to see further back in time than any other telescope, to the early universe shortly after the Big Bang.
The telescope is named after James E. Webb, who was the administrator of NASA from 1961 to 1967.
Webb played a key role in the Apollo program that landed the first humans on the Moon.
The James Webb Space Telescope is an international collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).
Key features of the telescope:
Large mirror: The telescope has a primary mirror that is 6.5 meters (21.3 feet) in diameter.
This is much larger than the mirror of the Hubble Space Telescope, which is 2.4 meters (7.9 feet) in diameter.
The larger mirror allows the James Webb Space Telescope to collect more light, which means that it can see fainter objects.
Infrared vision: The telescope is designed to observe the universe in the infrared spectrum.
This is because infrared light can penetrate dust clouds that block visible light.
This allows the James Webb Space Telescope to see objects that are hidden from other telescopes, such as young stars and planets that are still forming.
Cold operating temperature: The telescope must operate at a very cold temperature in order to detect faint infrared signals.
To achieve this, the telescope is located in a special orbit around the Sun called a Lagrange point.
At this point, the telescope is constantly in shadow from both the Sun and the Earth, which helps it to stay cool.
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