Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

How engineers are getting James Webb’s NIRSpec instrument ready for science

By

While engineers for the James Webb Space Telescope continue the long and delicate process of aligning its mirrors in order to get the telescope ready for science operations this summer, other teams are working on preparing the telescope’s four science instruments for operations. One of the instruments, the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec), recently hit a milestone when it completed initial check-outs for three of its mechanisms. Now, members of NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have shared more information about NIRSpec and how it is being prepared to investigate targets including some of the oldest galaxies in the universe.

There are three mechanisms crucial to the operation of NIRSpec: A Filter Wheel Assembly (FWA), a Grating Wheel Assembly (GWA), and a Refocus Mechanism Assembly (RMA). These work together to allow the operation of the spectrograph, which splits light into a color spectrum. By looking at the spectrum of light from distant objects, scientists can tell what those objects are made of, as different elements absorb light in different wavelengths.

Recommended Videos

To make sure only light within the wavelengths being investigated gets to the instrument, NIRSpec uses filters to block out unwanted wavelengths, and these filters are controlled by the FWA. To focus the light, the instrument uses the RMA. And the light is separated into a spectrum using gratings, a prism, and a mirror in the GWA.

The engineers described how they checked each of these components: “We operated the Filter Wheel Assembly first, cycling it through all eight of its positions in both forward and reverse directions… At each position, we recorded a set of reference data. This data showed us how well the wheel was moving and how accurately it settled into each position… The data showed that the wheel moved very well even in the first attempt.”

The operation of the GWA was similarly successful. “We then used a very similar procedure for the Grating Wheel Assembly, which also performed excellently the first time,” they wrote. And finally, the RMA mechanism, which will help to focus the instrument, was moved through a few hundred steps to check it could be positioned correctly. These tests went well too, with the team writing, “successful completion of this test showed us that the RMA is a well-behaved and healthy mechanism.”

Everything is looking good for NIRSpec, so now the instrument can continue being tested and calibrated ahead of its first science data collection in a few months. “In the coming months, the NIRSpec team will continue their commissioning efforts,” the team wrote. “The whole team is very much looking forward to the start of science observations this summer!”

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Georgina Torbet
Georgina Torbet
Space Writer
Georgina is the Digital Trends space writer, covering human space exploration, planetary science, and cosmology. She…
James Webb photographs two potential exoplanets orbiting white dwarfs
Illustration of a cloudy exoplanet and a disk of debris orbiting a white dwarf star.

Even though scientists have now discovered more than 5,000 exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system, it's a rare thing that any telescope can take an image of one of these planets. That's because they are so small and dim compared to the stars that they orbit around that it's easier to detect their presence based on their effects on the star rather than them being detected directly.

However, thanks to its exceptional sensitivity, the James Webb Space Telescope was recently able to image two potential exoplanets orbiting around small, cold cores of dead stars called white dwarfs directly.

Read more
See 19 gorgeous face-on spiral galaxies in new James Webb data
This collection of 19 face-on spiral galaxies from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope in near- and mid-infrared light is at once overwhelming and awe-inspiring. Webb’s NIRCam (Near-Infrared Camera) captured millions of stars in these images. Older stars appear blue here, and are clustered at the galaxies’ cores. The telescope’s MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) observations highlight glowing dust, showing where it exists around and between stars – appearing in shades of red and orange. Stars that haven’t yet fully formed and are encased in gas and dust appear bright red.

A stunning new set of images from the James Webb Space Telescope illustrates the variety of forms that exist within spiral galaxies like our Milky Way. The collection of 19 images shows a selection of spiral galaxies seen from face-on in the near-infrared and mid-infrared wavelengths, highlighting the similarities and differences that exist across these majestic celestial objects.

“Webb’s new images are extraordinary,” said Janice Lee of the Space Telescope Science Institute, in a statement. “They’re mind-blowing even for researchers who have studied these same galaxies for decades. Bubbles and filaments are resolved down to the smallest scales ever observed, and tell a story about the star formation cycle.”

Read more
James Webb snaps a stunning stellar nursery in a nearby satellite galaxy
This image from the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope features an H II region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), a satellite galaxy of our Milky Way. This nebula, known as N79, is a region of interstellar atomic hydrogen that is ionised, captured here by Webb’s Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI).

A stunning new image from the James Webb Space Telescope shows a star-forming region in the nearby galaxy of the Large Magellanic Cloud. Our Milky Way galaxy has a number of satellite galaxies, which are smaller galaxies gravitationally bound to our own, the largest of which is the Large Magellanic Cloud or LMC.

The image was taken using Webb's Mid-Infrared Instrument or MIRI, which looks at slightly longer wavelengths than its other three instruments which operate in the near-infrared. That means MIRI is well suited to study things like the warm dust and gas found in this region in a nebula called N79.

Read more