NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is ready for calibration after chilling out

One step closer to probing the depths of the universe is the James Webb Space Telescope. After the telescope's instrumentation reached its final operating temperature of minus 448 degrees Fahrenheit, NASA said it was ready to start taking test images and aligning the telescope's optics.

Cool news! Webb’s MIRI instrument recently passed through its critical “pinch point” and cooled to just a few kelvins above absolute zero, which is the coldest you can go: https://t.co/jjE7xTal0O

Wondering why MIRI is extremely chill? Thread ❄️ pic.twitter.com/a9l7lcZ645

The telescope took a major step forward when it deployed its 70 foot sun shield at the start of the year, but it has been cooling down ever since its successful December 25th launch. The components allowed the systems to drop to a temperature of approximately minus 298 degrees Fahrenheit.

It took NASA and the European Space Agency a long time to get the telescope to its final operating temperature.

The MIRI cooler team has poured a lot of hard work into developing the procedure for the pinch point. It was a textbook execution of the procedure, and the cooler performance is even better than expected.

The James Webb needs to be so cold before it can begin its mission that it won't interfere with its instruments when they are turned toward distant bodies. The cold temperatures have to be avoided to avoid an electrical force that is generated when the atoms in the telescope vibrate. That movement can make it more difficult for the telescope to get an accurate picture of a body in the sky.