Singapore. 12 August 2022. With the launch of the much awaited first images and spectra from the James Webb Space Telescope today, the world will now see what the world’s largest, most powerful, and most complex space science telescope has to show.
Two pieces of Honeywell technology will serve as the “eyes” of the telescope as it explores areas of space no human has ever seen before. Honeywell’s Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) allows the telescope to lock on a star position with very high precision and stabilize the light beam coming from deep space objects. All scientific observations taken by Webb will involve the use of the FGS.
Secondly, Honeywell’s Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) will photograph and gather spectra from many types of celestial objects. NIRISS will be able to study the atmospheres of exoplanets and determine their composition, observe distant galaxies and examine objects that are very close together in the sky.
Honeywell’s team has been supporting the development of the JWST for decades
