Glitch in deep space. James Webb telescope fails again

MIRI, one of the four main instruments of the Webb telescope, suffered a spectrograph failure.

The Webb Telescope’s near-infrared space observatory MIRI ran into another problem. According to a NASA report, the instrument’s spectrograph began receiving less light than needed in a certain range. Space writes that engineers from the American space agency are currently investigating the causes of the malfunction.

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The MIRI instrument consists of a camera and a spectrograph, which can divide light into different wavelengths so that the Webb Telescope can detect light from the most distant objects in space. Also, with the help of this instrument, the space observatory can see very faint objects from the Kuiper belt surrounding our solar system. To conduct space observations, the MIRI instrument switches to different observation modes using a spectrograph. But a few days ago, NASA engineers discovered malfunctions in its operation.

Analysis of the identified problem continues, but the Webb telescope continues its observations as planned, according to the statement from NASA. The scientists said that the failure did not have a particularly negative impact on the operation of the MIRI instrument and other instruments of the telescope. This failure is not a major problem and does not affect space observations.

This isn’t the first problem MIRI has had. Last year there was a malfunction that did not allow the device to switch to different observation modes. Although this problem was not as serious as expected, the Webb telescope continued to provide stunning images of space objects. Although, as mentioned earlier FocusSome operations were suspended until the causes of the incident were clarified.

Moreover Focus wrote earlier this year that another instrument of the Webb telescope, called NIRISS, had malfunctioned. Scientists were able to find the cause of the accident and carry out a remote “repair”. After that, the device started working again as before.

While investigating the MIRI instrument’s malfunction, NASA scientists suggest they can fix the problem with space observations, if necessary, by exposing slightly longer exposures to the affected wavelengths of light to create sharper images.

There have been no major issues with the $10 billion Webb Space Telescope since its launch on December 25, 2021. Currently, the observatory’s Webb telescope, which continues its scientific activities at a distance of 1.5 million km from Earth, is expected to serve for at least 20 more years. The observatory began taking full-fledged scientific images of space only in July last year, but during this time astronomers have received a lot of incredibly valuable information, especially about the galaxies most distant from the early Universe.

As already written FocusThe same high-quality space images as Webb recently made a new telescope launched in a balloon in Earth’s upper atmosphere.

Also in early April, the Webb Telescope sent out wonderful new images of Uranus and its barely noticeable rings, as I wrote earlier. Focus.

As a reminder, astronomers have confirmed that they have discovered the most distant and oldest galaxies in the visible universe with the help of the Webb Space Telescope. As already written Focusthere were four galaxies on this list, and one already existed 320 million years after the Big Bang.

Source: Focus

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