James Webb Space Telescope was hit by a tiny space rock – but it’s OK

There is a person by the name ofLeah Crane.

A small space rock struck theJWST. The NASA team that operates the observatory doesn't think the impact on the data will be significant.

After launching at the end of 2021, the JWST became permanent in January. The telescope's instruments have been prepared since then. The observatory's primary mirror is made up of 18 smaller mirrors coated in gold.

Micrometeoroids are the size of a grain of dust and are found in the solar system. The mirrors were tested before the launch to make sure they wouldn't be damaged.

The one that hit the telescope in May was larger than anything the NASA team tested or simulated on the ground, and nobody predicted it. The telescope's operators would have been able to turn it if they had done so.

Since launch, we have had four smaller measurable micrometeoroid strikes that were consistent with expectations, and this one more recently that is larger than our degradation predictions assumed. We will use the flight data to update our analysis of performance over time, and also develop operational approaches to assure we maximize the image performance of Webb for many years to come.

The observatory team found that the telescope's future images won't be degraded too badly despite the impact on the data. The planned science observations of the early universe and the very first galaxies are performing well above the required level.

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