Twenty years ago, Spectrogon manufactured a group of different filters for the James Webb Space Telescope – JWST. It is the largest space telescope ever designed, made possible with the collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). It will replace the famous Hubble telescope, which “only” has sensors and cameras for up to 2 µm. The JWST has sensors and cameras up to 28 µm and Spectrogon delivered filters in the range 5-15 µm. There are several instruments making up the JWST and Spectrogon filters are being used in one which is called MIRI – Mid Infrared Instrument.
After many delays, the telescope will be finally launched into space from French Guiana towards the end of December. Among other things, it will investigate how galaxies were created just after The Big Bang (where Spectrogon filters are needed!) and the search for life on exoplanets.
The JWST team in front of real-size scale model Photo credit: European Space Agency (ESA)
Artist’s illustration of the James Webb Space Telescope with its massive sunshield fully deployed. (Image credit: Northrop Grumman)
More details about the telescope and the mission could be found here:
https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/observatory/instruments/miri.html