A small metal component designed in Australia has significantly improved the vision of the James Webb Space Telescope from its location nearly a million miles away. Following the successful launch of the telescope in December 2021, which marked a major advancement in astronomical technology since the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990, the real work began for the Australian team involved in its operation.
The team utilized the telescope”s highest-resolution mode, known as the aperture masking interferometer (AMI). This precisely engineered metal piece fits into one of the telescope”s cameras, enhancing its ability to capture detailed images. Recent results showcasing the effectiveness of AMI have been published in two papers on the open-access archive arXiv.
Initially, the Hubble Space Telescope experienced focus issues due to incorrect mirror grinding, necessitating a costly servicing mission to install corrective optics. In contrast, the James Webb Space Telescope operates at a distance of approximately 1 million miles in space, making it impossible for astronauts to service it directly. This limitation underscores the significance of AMI, the sole Australian hardware on board, designed by astronomer Peter Tuthill to assess and rectify any blurriness in the telescope”s images.
Even minute distortions in the telescope”s 18 hexagonal mirrors can compromise the clarity of images crucial for studying distant planets and black holes. AMI employs a structured pattern of holes in a metal plate to facilitate the identification of any optical misalignments.
In a recent study led by Louis Desdoigts, a PhD student at the University of Sydney, the team utilized AMI to observe stars and correct both optical and electronic distortions. They developed a computer model simulating AMI”s optical physics, which was connected to a machine learning model to accurately process the data. This innovative approach allowed them to eliminate the blurriness previously hindering the telescope”s performance.
The results were notable. With the new corrections, the telescope successfully identified the faint planet around star HD 206893, along with the first known red-brown dwarf. These celestial bodies had been previously challenging to detect. The corrections have opened opportunities for discovering unknown planets with greater resolution and sensitivity.
In a complementary study by fellow PhD student Max Charles, the team applied these enhancements to more complex imaging tasks, successfully bringing Jupiter”s moon Io into sharp focus while observing its volcanic activity. The AMI also provided detailed images of a jet from a black hole in the galaxy NGC 1068, matching results from larger telescopes.
The advancements made with AMI not only benefit the James Webb Space Telescope but also serve as a demonstration for future camera technologies on Webb and the upcoming Roman space telescope. This progress indicates that, through careful measurement and correction, scientists can still pursue the search for Earth-like planets in distant regions of our galaxy.
