The James Webb Space Telescope is in Position. Now It’s Booting Up

upstart writes:

The James Webb Space Telescope Is in Position. Now It's Booting Up:

Scientist launched the James Webb Space Telescope and sent it about a million miles from Earth. This summer, the technological marvel will begin collecting never-before-seen images of the cosmos. But between now and then, NASA researchers and their European and Canadian colleagues have their work cut out for them.

[...] Now that everything's in place, the JWST team has begun the "commissioning" process for the instruments, setting up the complex cameras and detectors and making sure they work as they're supposed to, Schneider says. Last week, they conducted their first tests with the Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam), allowing the first photons to hit the camera. It's not actually capturing images yet, but this is a step toward doing so. Eventually, scientists will use NIRCam to discover new planets and glimpse some of the first galaxies.

Once they can take real test images, such as of nearby, previously photographed stars, the first batches will be blurry and out of focus. But that's normal. Those tests will enable the Webb team to gradually align the telescope and adjust the mirror segments until the images look clear.

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