Six months have passed since a European rocket lofted a space telescope into the sky. The telescope has reached an observation point hundreds of thousands of kilometers away from Earth since that time.
This white-knuckle period in space followed nearly two decades of effort to design, build, and test the telescope on Earth before it was launched. The largest and most powerful telescope that humans have ever put into space is already revealing new information about our universe.
Thomas Zurbuchen, who leads NASA's scientific programs, said at a news conference that the images are being taken. Some amazing science is already in the can, and others are still being researched. The data is in the middle of being taken down.
The images will be released at 10:30 am on July 12th. The spectrum of an atmosphere around an exoplanet, as well as the deepest-field image of the universe ever taken, will be included in the images and other data. The fingerprints of small molecule carbon dioxide and ozone will offer clues about the habitability of worlds around other stars, thanks to the use of the IR.
AdvertisementShe said that what she saw moved her, as a scientist, as an engineer, and as a human being.
The telescope is in good shape. The European Space Agency's Ariane 5 rocket should have enough maneuvering propellant on board for 20 years. The telescope was designed to account for the small dents with a lot of margin.
Zurbuchen said he was in awe of what the telescope had done. He said he almost cried when he saw the first photos.
He said it was hard to not look at the universe in a new light. When nature suddenly releases some of its secrets, it is an emotional moment.
It was a tease.
We'll have to wait nearly two weeks to see the final product from the first observations. NASA won't be releasing images early even on an embargo basis. It has been 20 years since the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope's successor, the James Webb Space Telescope. We might be able to wait a bit longer.
We have to.
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