written by stefanie waldek, on april 8th, 2022
who: nasa, klaus pontoppidan, the space telescope science institute project scientist for webb
what: webb telescope cooling down to absolute zero so it can start collecting data and images
when: right now and for its whole life
where: right now the jwst is at the lagrange point 2
how: by using a special shield to keep the heat of the sun from interfering with the telescope, as well as a cryocooler to help the telescope cool down further
Interesting fact: the cryocooler does not use coolant, so it will be able to be run without being replaced or refilled for the entire lifetime of the webb telescope
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