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(July 19, 2023: this article has been updated. Corrections made – the star-forming region shown by the July 12 Webb image is 390 light years away, not 390 million. In another image, mentioned by Michael McWhinnie, a cloud “being blasted into space” was near a moon by Saturn, not Jupiter).
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by Garth Meyer
The most distant supermassive black hole ever found, a “kilonova” star collision, the first detection of a certain carbon molecule in space. These are subjects of data reported in the past month from the Webb Telescope, built largely by Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, for which on Wednesday marked its one-year anniversary of the release of its first images.
NASA celebrated the occasion with a new picture – of a star-forming region 390 light years away. The cloud complex view includes 50 stars about the size of the sun.
“We’ve been really happy with how the spacecraft has been performing. It’s been flawless,” said Michael McWhinnie Tuesday at Space Park, factory engineering lead for Northrop Grumman. “In a lot of ways, it’s not surprising.”
His favorite images so far are from closer in – of Jupiter – seen by humans before but not in this level of detail.
Krystal Puga, Webb deployments mechanisms manager, noted a high point for her in the first year was a gas giant exoplanet known as “Wasp 96B” (in the NASA Exoplanet Catalog), on which the Webb charted evidence of water and clouds.
An exoplanet means one from outside our solar system.
Puga also spoke to Easy Reader Tuesday at Space Park, wearing a shirt with the “celestial cliffs” image from last year’s Webb debut.
McWhinnie, who acts as the primary engineering liaison between Northrop Grumman and the Webb mission operations center in Maryland, mentioned recent images of a moon by Saturn, which showed a cloud “being blasted into space,” with water vapor inside.
While renderings from Webb have been released throughout the year, work on Earth continues for NASA engineers, on the craft itself, as they monitor telemetry and data sent down to make subsequent adjustments – such as changing when heaters turn on and off as temperatures shift in space. Flat software on the Webb is also updated, like for personal computers.
“Very similar to upgrading an IPhone,” said McWhinnie.
The Webb’s camera is infrared, which the human eye cannot detect. Its pictures are created by a process which assigns colors to data.
Year Two now begins.
“I’m really excited to see it,” McWhinnie said. “Cycle one identified targets to see what Webb is capable of. What will we find in this next cycle, knowing what Webb (can do)?”
During design and integration in Redondo Beach, Puga managed the Webb’s 178 release mechanisms – of eight different varieties – which unfolded the observatory in space.
The deployment followed almost 2,000 test runs on the ground.
“Testing, testing, testing was really the key to the James Webb Telescope’s success,” she said.
Puga told of crying twice during the project – for which she had worked 10 years before its launch – when the 24k gold mirrors coated with silica were first attached to the sunshields in the Space Park “High Bay,” and when, after launch, the first four mechanisms deployed, unveiling the solar array, which powers the craft.
“Four down, 174 to go,” she said of the moment.
Puga’s role now is as an advocate, giving talks to schools and other organizations.
She also gave presentations to students before the launch two years ago.
At that time, most of the kids had not heard of the Webb project.
“You will someday,” Puga told them.
Now, in her talks, she said students tell her of projects inspired by the Webb.
Thousands of local workers on Webb over its 19 years in Redondo Beach have now spread out into other tasks in the four sectors of Northrop Grumman: space, aeronautics systems, missile systems and defense systems.
As for the supermassive black hole discovered by Webb, researchers believe it existed 570 million years after the theoretical big bang. The telescope has also identified eleven galaxies which go back 470-675 million years.
The image released Wednesday showcases chaos in what is known as the Rho Ophiuchi cloud complex, where crisscrossing jets of young stars intersect with interstellar gas causing a glow. ER
