An important instrument of the James Webb Telescope resumed its scientific work

sarahjay1 (69)memberin Popular STEM • 2 years ago

(NASA GSFC/CIL/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez https://bit.ly/3URqLqn)

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has resumed full-fledged operation of the MIRI instrument, which was disrupted two months ago due to an instrumental anomaly.

The problem originated because of the increased friction between the elements of the wheel with diffraction gratings.

The MIRI instrument consists of a camera and a four-channel spectrograph and allows the Webb to make observations in the middle and long infrared wavelengths.

The instrument, unlike others, has an additional cooling system that allows it to reach a temperature of seven kelvin, minimizing thermal interference during observations.

MIRI observes a wide variety of objects such as:

protostars
very distant galaxies
comets and Kuiper Belt objects
exoplanets

THE ERROR
In mid-August, the observatory team discovered an anomaly in the operation of the instrument associated with a wheel with diffraction gratings,

This led to the termination of observations in the medium resolution spectroscopy (MRS) mode.

The engineers came to the conclusion that the most likely cause of the anomaly was the increased friction between the elements of the wheel center bearing assembly under certain conditions.

After that, the team developed instructions for the further operation of the device, taking into account the presence of a problematic bearing.

Recently, on November 2, the JWST team tested the MIRI and decided to resume scientific observations in the MRS mode on November 7.

The observations will be carried out in full after additional checks of the new mode of operation of MIRI.

Sources:

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