FROM: NASAWASHINGTON -- The first of four instruments to fly aboard NASA's James
Webb Space Telescope (Webb) has been delivered to NASA. The
Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) will allow scientists to study cold
and distant objects in greater detail than ever before.
MIRI arrived at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.,
May 29. It has been undergoing inspection before being integrated
into Webb’s science instrument payload known as the Integrated
Science Instrument Module (ISIM).
Assembled at and shipped from the Science and Technology Facilities
Council's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in the United Kingdom, MIRI
was developed by a consortium of 10 European institutions and NASA's
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., after having
been handed over to the European Space Agency.
MIRI will observe light with wavelengths in the mid-infrared range of
5 microns to 28 microns, which is a longer wavelength than human eyes
can detect. It is the only instrument of the four with this
particular ability to observe the physical processes occurring in the
cosmos.
"MIRI will enable Webb to distinguish the oldest galaxies from more
evolved objects that have undergone several cycles of star birth and
death," said Matt Greenhouse, ISIM project scientist at Goddard.
"MIRI also will provide a unique window into the birth places of
stars which are typically enshrouded by dust that shorter wavelength
light cannot penetrate."
MIRI's sensitive detectors will allow it to observe light, cool stars
in very distant galaxies; unveil newly forming stars within our Milky
Way; find signatures of the formation of planets around stars other
than our own; and take imagery and spectroscopy of planets, comets
and the outermost bits of debris in our solar system. MIRI's images
will enable scientists to study an object’s shape and structure.
The most powerful space telescope ever built, Webb is the successor to
NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. Webb’s four instruments will reveal
how the universe evolved from the Big Bang to the formation of our
solar system. Webb is a joint project of NASA, the European Space
Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.
