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NASA Webb Telescope

16 Jul, 10 tweets, 5 min read

Tomorrow is #WorldEmojiDay! We’d like you to guess some Webb-themed emojis and tell us what they are in the comments below ⬇️ We'll reveal the answers soon!

1. The first answer is “Webb telescope”! That’s us — the largest and most powerful space observatory ever built. Webb will look back to about 13.6 billion years ago, observing the first stars, galaxies and more. Latest milestones: go.nasa.gov/3ihiquc

2. It’s “sunshield”! The sunshield is a 5-layer, tennis court-sized structure that will always protect Webb's sensitive mirrors & instruments from the heat/light of the Sun, Earth and Moon. More: jwst.nasa.gov/content/observ…

3. This one is “exoplanet.” Webb will be able to study exoplanet atmospheres by breaking down light to learn more about the gases present. More: go.nasa.gov/2v3pupB

4. Yep, it’s “black hole”! Webb’s infrared vision will be able to pierce through the dust surrounding the cores of galaxies, shedding light on the mysteries of supermassive black holes: go.nasa.gov/3m1mnoe

5. The answer is the main “asteroid belt” — a huge cluster of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter. Webb will examine the composition of multiple asteroids within the belt to learn more about the history of our Solar System: go.nasa.gov/3rdPGH1

6. It’s “spacecraft bus,” one of Webb’s major components. This structure handles things such as steering the observatory, sending & receiving data from Earth, and converting sunlight into power: go.nasa.gov/3hMtYqx

7. If you answered “redshift," you are right! Cosmological redshift refers to how light stretches into longer, "redder" wavelengths as the universe expands. Download this infographic: bit.ly/3hM1xZS

8. It’s “spectrograph”/spectrometer! Webb has multiple spectrographs, which are used to disperse light from an object into a spectrum. Analyzing the spectrum of an object can then tell us about its properties, such as the composition of an exoplanet’s atmosphere.

Thanks for playing along! We hope you had fun ☺️

How many of these emoji puzzles did you guess right?

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More from @NASAWebb

NASA Webb Telescope

@NASAWebb

15 Jul

Tower stowed ✅
Lens cap removed ✅
Sunshield pallets stowed ✅

3 more testing milestones have been completed for #NASAWebb! The world’s most complex & powerful space telescope is making big progress for its launch & million-mile journey later this year. go.nasa.gov/3ihiquc

1. The tower is a pipe structure that helps Webb maintain operating temperatures by separating its cold optics from its warm spacecraft bus. Fully extended, the tower reaches 10 ft in length! Recently tested for the last time, it is now lowered & locked into place for launch.

@BallAerospace

2. Here, a @BallAerospace technician carefully removes Webb’s "lens cap," which has kept the observatory’s instruments protected and contaminant-free. With launch approaching, removing this cover gives engineers additional freedom in packing up the rest of the observatory.

Read 4 tweets

NASA Webb Telescope

@NASAWebb

9 Oct 20

@NASA_Astronauts

Testing is the spacecraft equivalent of @NASA_Astronauts training. But how does a space telescope like #NASAWebb “train” for its launch journey?

Thread ⬇️

1) Let’s start with liftoff. A rocket launch is 100 times more intense and 4 times louder than a rock concert! 🎸

To simulate that level of extreme noise, Webb’s complete structure was recently blasted with powerful sound waves. 🔊

@arianespace

2) #NASAWebb was also carefully folded into its launch position, placed onto a shaker table, and vibrated from 5 to 100 times per second to match the speeds of its launch vehicle, an @arianespace Ariane 5 rocket. 🚀

Read our latest feature: go.nasa.gov/2SvxSX4

Read 13 tweets

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