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Behind the Webb: Third Light’s the Charm (Episode 17)

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Before light from the universe reaches Webb’s cameras and science instruments, it will reflect off four different mirrors — the primary, secondary, tertiary and fine-steering mirrors. The light’s third stop along its zigzagging path is the tertiary mirror, housed within the Aft Optics Subsystem at the center of Webb’s 21-foot primary mirror. Mary Estacion visits Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colorado, to learn about the tertiary mirror’s role and to see how the mirror’s optics are being tested.

“Behind the Webb” is an ongoing series that follows the construction of the Webb Space Telescope, Hubble’s successor. Find more episodes at Hubblesite.org.

“Behind the Webb” archive
http://webbtelescope.org/webb_telescope/behind_the_webb/archive/

Behind the Webb: Canada’s Dynamic Duo (Episode 16)

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Host Mary Estacion takes us to Ottawa, Canada, to examine the Canadian Space Agency’s contributions to the Webb telescope. The Canadian Space Agency is providing the Fine Guidance Sensor, which will enable Webb to point accurately at objects astronomers want to observe, and the Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph, an instrument that will break light into colors for analysis, enabling the study of both extremely bright objects and the detection of faint objects near stars — like distant planets.

“Behind the Webb” is an ongoing series that follows the construction of the Webb Space Telescope, Hubble’s successor. Find more episodes at Hubblesite.org.

“Behind the Webb” archive
http://webbtelescope.org/webb_telescope/behind_the_webb/archive/

Tonight’s Sky: February 2013

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“Tonight’s Sky” provides backyard stargazers with a monthly guide to the northern hemisphere’s skywatching events. In February, look for the brilliant stars of Orion and for dazzling Jupiter blazing overhead.

“Tonight’s Sky” is produced by HubbleSite.org, online home of the Hubble Space Telescope. This is a recurring show, and you can find more episodes — and other astronomy videos — at HubbleSite.org.

Visit Tonight’s Sky on HubbleSite.

http://hubblesite.org/explore_astronomy/tonights_sky