James Webb Telescope reaches super-icy temperature to study

Last Wednesday (14), the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced James Webb Space Telescope It reached a super icy temperature as it prepared to make deep space observations. The device reached a final temperature of 6.4 kelvin, which is about minus 266 degrees Celsius.

According to the information obtained, the Intermediate Infrared Instrument (MIRI), developed jointly by the telescope with the European Space Agency, reached the temperature on April 7. The tech teams reached the “pincer point” milestone when the equipment was cooled to below 7 kelvin – they used an electric cryo-cooler to achieve the ideal state.

The temperature needs to be low because of James Web devices that detect and emit infrared light. Cooling is also important for suppressing infrared emissions from the telescope itself, so it can only act as a detector.

In addition, equipment must be cooled to suppress the dark current, an electrical current created by the vibration of atoms in detectors that can send false signals from an external source.

In search of deep space

“MIRI’s ability to detect longer infrared wavelengths makes it more susceptible to dark current, so it needs to be cooler than other devices to completely eliminate this effect. According to an official NASA statement, the dark current increases about 10 times for every degree that the device’s temperature rises.

James Webb is a space telescope with the purpose of capturing infrared radiation, observing the formation of the first galaxies and stars, and understanding the process of planet formation, as well as capturing high-resolution images. The equipment was sent into space on December 25, 2021.