NASA's James Webb telescope opens its 'golden eye' mirror
CBC
NASA's new space telescope opened its huge, gold-plated, flower-shaped mirror on Saturday, the final step in the observatory's dramatic unfurling.
The last portion of the 6.5-metre mirror swung into place at flight controllers' command, completing the unfolding of the James Webb Space Telescope.
"I'm emotional about it. What an amazing milestone. We see that beautiful pattern out there in the sky now," said Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's science missions chief.
More powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope, the $10-billion US Webb will scan the cosmos for light streaming from the first stars and galaxies formed 13.7 billion years ago.
To accomplish this, NASA had to outfit Webb with the biggest and most sensitive mirror ever launched — its "golden eye," as scientists call it.
Webb is so big that it had to be folded origami-style to fit in the rocket that soared from South America two weeks ago. The riskiest operation occurred earlier in the week, when the tennis court-size sunshield unfurled, providing subzero shade for the mirror and infrared detectors.
Flight controllers in Baltimore began opening the primary mirror on Friday, unfolding the left side like a drop-leaf table.
The mood was even more upbeat on Saturday, with peppy music filling the control room as the right side snapped into place. After applauding, the controllers immediately got back to work, latching everything down.
The mirror is made of beryllium, a lightweight yet sturdy and cold-resistant metal. Each of its 18 segments is coated with an ultra-thin layer of gold, highly reflective of infrared light.
The hexagonal, coffee table-size segments must be adjusted in the days and weeks ahead so they can focus as one on stars, galaxies and alien worlds that might hold atmospheric signs of life.
Webb should reach its destination 1.6 million kilometres away in another two weeks. If all continues to go well, science observations will begin this summer.
Astronomers hope to peer back to within 100 million years of the universe-forming Big Bang, closer than Hubble has achieved.
The U.S. on Saturday seized an oil tanker that was last docked in Venezuela, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said in a post on social media platform X.
If it were the premise of a Hollywood movie, it would be hard to believe.
Long before you could see the crowd, you could hear them. The whistles and shouting carried blocks from the residential street in Minneapolis, where more than 70 people lined the sidewalk recording on their phones and hurling insults — and the occasional snowball — at a handful of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and their vehicles.
A man who is suspected of killing two and wounding several others at Brown University has been found dead in a New Hampshire storage facility, officials said.
Canada is yet again on the precipice of economic uncertainty as a result of U.S. President Donald Trump’s global trade war. This time it's connected to an upcoming decision by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Thursday promised a crackdown on hate speech in the wake of the attack on a Jewish holiday event at Sydney's Bondi Beach, which left 15 dead.
For nearly four years, the city of Kramatorsk in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk has been a stronghold — a key logistics hub for the military, and for the population, a literal and symbolic fortress standing firm against a Russian push that continues to edge closer from the south and the east.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he is ordering a blockade of all "sanctioned oil tankers" into Venezuela, ramping up pressure on the country's authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro in a move that seemed designed to put a tighter chokehold on the South American country's economy.
This story is no longer being updated. Please visit this page for live updates and reaction.
U.S. President Donald Trump sued the BBC on Monday for defamation over edited clips of a speech that made it appear he directed supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol, opening an international front in his fight against media coverage he deems untrue or unfair.
At least 11 people were killed and more than two dozen injured in a shooting by two gunmen at a Jewish holiday event at Sydney's Bondi Beach on Sunday.
A shooting in the engineering building at Brown University on Saturday has left at least two people dead and eight critically injured, officials in Providence, R.I., said, as authorities continued to search for a suspect.
U.S. House Democrats released a selection of photos from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein on Friday, including some of Donald Trump, former U.S. president Bill Clinton and the former prince Andrew.