The next few days in space are very important for the world’s largest telescope

NASA’s James Webb Telescope is going through some important phases in space. This will decide its success. This mighty space observatory was launched into orbit on Christmas Day. The observatory is moving towards opening its five-layer sunshield. In order for the telescope’s equipment to function properly, the shield will assist in this and keep it cool. In these tense moments, NASA is giving regular updates via Twitter and millions of people around the world are following it.

In a tweet, NASA has said that the James Webb team has successfully stretched the Deployable Tower Assembly (DTA) to unfold the Sun Shield over the next few days. The launch of this space telescope from Earth was a beginning of this mission. In the next 6 months, James Web Telescope has to complete several processes. After that it will start working perfectly. This process is long because the James Webb Telescope is a large observatory. It is packed into a small space in the corner of the nose of the Ariane Launcher. This means that this telescope can be unfolded only after leaving it in orbit.

Speaking of the Deployable Tower Assembly (DTA), it creates space between the top of the observatory and the spacecraft, to keep the observatory’s instruments cool. Sun shield membrane will also get a place in this gap.

According to NASA, the James Webb Space Telescope is divided into a ‘hot side’ and a ‘cold side’ because of the sun shield. The sun shield will always face the sun to block heat and light, as web mirrors need to be kept extremely cool.

The temperature in the hot side of the telescope will reach 85 °C and on the cold side it will be around -233 °C. NASA has also installed a live tracker, which will give temperature information. NASA has said that the James Webb team has successfully completed some things. This will extend the life of this observatory. This telescope is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency and will eventually replace the Hubble Telescope.

The $10 billion (about Rs 75,330 crore) James Webb Space Telescope is the largest telescope ever built. Its purpose is to help astronomers make successful discoveries.