The Webb telescope, operated by NASA, is now fully focused and ready for instrument commissioning.

The James Webb Space Telescope's alignment is now complete. The observatory's four strong onboard research equipment have been certified to be capable of producing sharp, well-focused photos after a thorough evaluation. Following the completion of the seventh and last stage of telescope alignment, the team attended a series of important decision meetings and unanimously concluded that Webb is now ready to proceed to the next and final step of preparations, known as scientific instrument commissioning. Before scientific activities begin in the summer, this procedure will take around two months.

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A sequence of photos capturing the observatory's complete field of vision show the alignment of the telescope across all of Webb's equipment.

"These amazing test photos from a properly aligned telescope show what individuals from all around the world can do when they have a strong scientific ambition to explore the cosmos," said Lee Feinberg, Webb optical telescope element manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.

The telescope's optical performance continues to outperform the engineering team's most optimistic projections. Webb's mirrors are now effectively guiding completely focused light captured from space down into each device, and each instrument is recording photos with the light being given to them. All equipment get "diffraction-limited" picture quality, which means that the fineness of detail seen is as excellent as physically achievable given the telescope's size. The only alterations to the mirrors from now on will be extremely minor, occasional tweaks to the principal mirror segments.

"My participation on the James Webb Space Telescope project has come to an end with the completion of telescope alignment and a half-worth lifetime's of labour," stated Scott Acton, Webb wavefront sensing and controls scientist, Ball Aerospace. "These photographs have drastically altered my perspective of the cosmos. There are galaxies everywhere, and we are encircled by a symphony of creation. It is my desire that they will be visible to everyone on the planet."

The Webb team will now focus on commissioning scientific instruments. Each instrument is a very complex collection of detectors with bespoke lenses, masks, filters, and other equipment that aids in the performance of the research it was created to do. During the instrument commissioning phase, the particular features of these instruments will be set and operated in different combinations to completely ensure their suitability for research. With the official completion of telescope alignment, important people engaged in the commissioning of each instrument have arrived at the Space Telescope Science Institute's Mission Operations Center in Baltimore, and some telescope alignment employees have completed their tasks.

Despite the fact that telescope alignment is accomplished, there are still certain telescope calibration tasks to be completed: The telescope will be ordered to aim to various places in the sky where the total quantity of solar radiation striking the observatory will fluctuate as part of scientific instrument commissioning to ensure thermal stability while changing targets. In addition, every two days, maintenance observations will check the mirror alignment and, if necessary, make changes to maintain the mirrors in their aligned positions.