been getting ready for its mission. the james webb space telescope is an engineering marvel. at its core is a six and a half metre wide mirror made up of 18 hexagonal segments, each perfectly aligned to act as a single surface. it also has a sun shield the size of a tennis court to protect it from the heat and light of the sun. the telescope will look back further in time than ever before, showing us the light from the very first stars to shine. we ll also be able to see how they came together to form the earliest galaxies. and it will study other planetary systems, revealing whether life could exist beyond our world. it s almost like a time machine. you re looking back into the far distant past and so we can begin to answer those questions about how did the first galaxies and stars form. the hope with this telescope is that we see almost in real time, as it were, a history of the universe playing out. the telescope also captured this.
i only have so much warming layers and at the time i think it was about 20 degrees outside. i m not sure how cold it is now but it would get very cold in my car very fast. the newjames webb telescope has completed a crucial task, in its quest to observe some of the most distant objects in the universe. its controllers completed the deployment of the space observatory s giant kite shaped sun shield, which is the size of a tennis court. the barrier will allow the telescope to detect signals deep in space, including from objects present during the formation of the first galaxies. tennis now and the men s world number one, novak djokovic, has received a medical exemption to enter australia, bypassing the strict rules that only allow people
it s been busy unfurling, first its sun shield, which is the size of a tennis court. but now a vital stage of the process is beginning. the mirror is the most important part of the telescope. its two folded sides open up and lock into place at 6.5 metres wide. it s so big that it consists of 18 separate hexagonal segments. they re made from beryllium, a stiff and lightweight metal that can withstand the extreme temperatures of space. the whole thing is covered in gold so thin that the entire coating coating weighsjust 50g, the weight of a golf ball. although it s made of segments, each one has to line up perfectly for it to act as a single huge mirror. each one of those mirrors, which is very lightweight, they have motors on the back which can move them up and down, tip them sideways, rotate them and even slightly bend them to make sure that they have exactly the right focus. the telescope will be hunting for the most distant stars and galaxies. but to do this, it doesn t
we ve never attempted anything like that in space before. we re going to be entering a whole new regime of astrophysics. a new frontier. and that is what gets so many of us excited about james webb space telescope. this space telescope is a feat of engineering. at its heart is a 6.5 metre wide mirror, made up of 18 hexagonal segments, each coated in a layer of gold. its size means it can detect the incredibly faint light coming from the most distant stars. it also has a huge sun shield, about the size of a tennis court. it s made up of five layers, each as thin as a human hair, and this protects the telescope from the heat and light of the sun. sitting a million miles away from the earth, the telescope will give us our deepest ever view of the cosmos. from seeing the birth of the very first stars and galaxies, to revealing new planets in far flung solar systems. what excites me is making
a new frontier. and that is what gets so many of us excited about james webb space telescope. this space telescope is a feat of engineering. at its heart is a 6.5 metre wide mirror, made up of 18 hexagonal segments, each coated in a layer of gold. its size means it can detect the incredibly faint light coming from the most distant stars. it also has a huge sun shield, about the size of a tennis court. it s made up of five layers, each as thin as a human hair, and this protects the telescope from the heat and light of the sun. sitting a million miles away from the earth, the telescope will give us our deepest ever view of the cosmos. from seeing the birth of the very first stars and galaxies, to revealing new planets in far flung solar systems. what excites me is making discoveries, things we haven t thought about. and there s a whole history of astronomy that shows