nanotechnology

ESA to set tiny hair-like Webb Telescope microshutters



Webb Telescope Microshutters

Caption: This is an array of microshutters, about the size of a postage stamp.

Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn. Usage Restrictions: None.

Microshutters Under a Microscope

Caption: This photograph shows microshutters being examined with a microscope. A hair is visible in the picture for size comparison.

Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn. Usage Restrictions: None.
To have completed the development of this device in a space flight program speaks highly of the great team of engineers and technicians who brought this new technology to completion."

The microshutters are assembled as an "array" or collection. An array is a group of tiny microshutters that looks like a little square in a waffle-like grid. Each array or grid contains over 62,000 shutters. Individually, each microshutter measures 100 by 200 microns, or about the width of a human hair. The telescope will contain four of these waffle-looking grids all put together. They also have to work at the incredibly cold temperature of minus 388 degrees Fahrenheit (-233 degrees Celsius).

The microshutters will enable scientists to block unwanted light from objects closer to the camera in space, like light from stars in our Galaxy, letting the light from faraway objects shine through. To get an idea of how these tiny little "hairlike" shutters work, think about how a person raises their hand in front of their eyes to block the sunshine while trying to look at a traffic signal. Microshutters block excess light to see a dim object by blocking out brighter sources of light in the cosmos.

The microshutters were designed, built and tested at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. specifically for the James Webb Space Telescope. They are unique to the Webb telescope.



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