|
NASA
Helps Space Telescope Camera "Squint" for a Better View
of Galaxies
01.24.07
NASA
engineers and scientists have created something that will give
better information about far away galaxies. This new creation,
which will be in a future space telescope, is so tiny that it's
the width of a few hairs.
Using
a microscope to look at a collection of Microshutters,
called an "array" you can see a hair in the
picture for a size comparison.
Credit:
NASA/Chris Gunn
|
"Microshutters"
are tiny doorways that bring stars and galaxies very far away
into better focus. This new technology will go aboard the James
Webb Space Telescope, to be launched into space in a decade.
The microshutters will enable scientists to block
unwanted light from objects closer to the camera in space,
letting the light from faraway objects shine through. To get an
idea of how these tiny little "hairlike" shutters work,
think about how you try to make something look clearer –
you squint. By squinting, your eyelashes block out light closer
to you. That's similar to how the microshutters work.
These
microshutters will allow the telescope to focus on the faint
light of stars and galaxies so far away, they formed early in the
history of the universe. That's because light travels at 186,000
miles per second, and light is still traveling through space from
the time the universe started. No other telescope has this
microshutter technology.
The Webb Telescope will take
over for the Hubble Space Telescope. It is planned for launch in
the next decade.
Dr.
Murzy Jhabvala, Chief Engineer of the Instrument Technology
and Systems Division demonstrates opening & closing a
collection of micro-shutters by using a magnet to form an
image.
Credit:
NASA
|
This
is an array of microshutters, about the size of a postage
stamp. Hi – Res is Close-up of the Microshutters
Credit:
NASA/Chris Gunn
|
New technology always gets
tested and re-tested to make sure it's ready to go on a
spacecraft. In December 2006, the microshutters passed important
tests that showed they can handle the stresses of being launched
and placed in deep space.
The microshutters were
designed, built and tested at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
in Greenbelt, Md. They will work with a camera scheduled to be
onboard the telescope called the "Near Infrared
Spectrograph," which will be built by the European Space
Agency. The spectrograph will break up the light from the
galaxies into a rainbow of different colors, allowing scientists
to determine the kinds of stars and gasses that make up the
galaxies and measure their distances and motions.
"To
build a telescope that can peer farther than Hubble can, we
needed brand new technology," said Murzy Jhabvala, chief
engineer of Goddard's Instrument Technology and Systems Division.
"We've worked on this design for over six years, opening and
closing the tiny shutters tens of thousands of times in order to
perfect the technology."
Each shutter measures 100 by
200 microns, or about the width of three to six human hairs.
These tiny shutters are arranged in a waffle-like grid containing
over 62,000 shutters. The telescope will contain four of these
waffle-looking grids all put together. They also have to work at
the incredibly cold temperature of minus 388 degrees Fahrenheit
(-233 degrees Celsius).
The big benefit of the
microshutters is that they will allow scientists to look at 100
things in space at the same time and see deeper into space in
less time.
"The microshutters are a remarkable
engineering feat that will have applications both in space and on
the ground, even outside of astronomy in biotechnology, medicine
and communications," said Harvey Moseley, the Microshutter
Principal Investigator.
Source
/ Credit: NASA / Rob Gutro / Goddard Space Flight Center
|
Scientific
Frontline®
The
Comm Center
Space
Weather Alerts
Stellar
Nights®
Imagineers
The
Delta Quadrant
|
