September 15, 2007 4:30 PM PDT
A very small prototype of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which NASA plans to launch in 2013 as a means to gaze at galaxies and clusters of galaxies at greater distances than ever before. According to Northrop Grumman Space Technology, its developer, the telescope will use near- and mid-infrared sensitivity and resolution to discover and study dusty disks around solar systems like our own. The design features 18 hexagonal-shaped mirror segments, with an aperture of 6.6 meters, which can see objects 400 times fainter than those currently observed by ground- and space-based telescopes, according to Northrop Grumman. The telescope, which folds up for flight and then expands in space, will transmit images to Earth wirelessely.
Photo by Stefanie Olsen/CNET News.com
