NIRISS Wavelength Range NIRISS is designed to capture light ranging in wavelength from 0.6 microns (visible red) to 5 microns (mid-infrared). Webb’s aperture mask is a metal plate with seven hexagonal holes that is placed in front of the detectors to increase the effective resolution of the telescope and capture more detailed images of extremely bright objects. Spectrographs spread light out into a spectrum so that the brightness of each individual wavelength can be measured. NIRISS Components Cameras capture two-dimensional images of regions of space. Additional technical support was provided by the National Research Council of Canada’s Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre. Honeywell International designed and built the instrument in collaboration with a team at the Université de Montréal. NIRISS is a contribution of the Canadian Space Agency. As the only instrument capable of aperture mask interferometry, NIRISS has the unique ability to capture images of bright objects at a resolution greater than the other imagers. NIRISS provides near-infrared imaging and spectroscopic capabilities. Observation of these early days in the universe’s history will shed light on perplexing questions of dark matter and energy, black holes, galaxy evolution over time, what the first stars were like, and how we arrived at the universe we experience today.The Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) is one of Webb’s four scientific instruments. Through a process called cosmological redshifting, light is stretched as the universe expands, so light from stars that is emitted in shorter ultraviolet and visible wavelengths is stretched to the longer wavelengths of infrared light. In this way, Webb will reveal a “hidden” universe of star and planet formation that is literally not visible.įinally, infrared light holds clues to many mysteries from the beginning of everything, the first stars and galaxies in the early universe, after the big bang. Low-energy brown dwarfs and young protostars forming in the midst of a nebula are among the difficult-to-observe cosmic objects that Webb can study. The longer wavelengths of infrared light slip past dust more easily, and therefore instruments that detect infrared light-like those on Webb-are able to see the objects that emitted that light inside a dusty cloud. Visible light’s short, tight wavelengths are prone to bouncing off dust particles, making it hard for visible light to escape from a dense nebula or protoplanetary cloud of gas and dust. Humans perceive this as heat, while some other animals, like snakes, are able to “see” infrared energy. Some bodies of matter that are cool and do not emit much energy or visible brightness, like people or a young planet, still radiate in the infrared. Infrared light is important to astronomy in three major ways.įirst, some objects are just better observed in infrared wavelengths. The Spitzer Space Telescope has a wavelength range of 3,000 to 160,000 nanometers, corresponding to the right half of the Infrared segment. The James Webb Space Telescope has a wavelength range of 600 to 28,500 nanometers, corresponding to a sliver of red visible light and the left half of the Infrared segment. From left to right: The Hubble Space Telescope has a wavelength range of 90 to 2,500 nanometers, corresponding to the right-most portion of the Ultraviolet segment, all of the Visible, and the left-most sliver of the Infrared segment. The wave pattern above Radio is more extended (longest wavelength).īelow the wavelength bar are line sketches of three telescopes, labeled with the telescope name and wavelength range. The wave pattern above Gamma is tightest (shortest wavelength). The wavelengths increase from left to right. The sine wave patterns are oriented vertically. The Visible segment is rainbow, from purple on the left to red on the right.Ībove each segment is a sine wave pattern indicating the relative wavelength of the band. The Infrared segments is shades of red and orange. The Ultraviolet segment is various shades of purple. Gamma, X-ray, Microwave, and Radio segments are all colored in shades of gray. From left to right these are: Gamma, X-Ray, Ultraviolet, Visible, Infrared, Microwave, and Radio. The diagram includes a horizontal bar consisting of seven labeled segments representing seven different bands of the electromagnetic spectrum. Infographic titled “Electomagnetic Spectrum” comparing the wavelengths of light that can be detected by the Hubble, Webb, and Spitzer space telescopes.
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