The James Webb Space Telescope Finishes Unfolding: How to Watch
The New York Times
While there are no cameras aboard the spacecraft, NASA is providing updates as the telescope deploys its mirrors. Here’s what you need to know.
The most powerful telescope ever launched into space is nearing the end of a meticulous assembly process that has kept astronomers on edge for weeks.
Since its Christmas morning launch, the James Webb Space Telescope has made all the right moves. Now it is entering the final stretch of its complex deployment phase.
In these terminal steps, two panels on either side of the telescope’s array of 18 gold-plated hexagonal mirrors, folded back during launch, must snap into place to complete Webb’s honeycomb-like reflector. The 21-foot-wide mirror sends light from the cosmos into a secondary mirror, which then bounces the light into the telescope’s main infrared sensor.
