Summary Draft 2

    In the article "Why stars look spiky in images from the James Webb Space Telescope", Verge (2022) addressed and explained the functions and features of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) that caused the images of stars taken to have a "distinct christmas-ornament-looking spikes". The article explains that the "spikes" which were also known as diffraction spikes are caused by the length between the primary and secondary mirrors of the telescope and the struts that holds the primary mirror and the secondary mirror together. The JWST is a reflecting telescope, whereby a large primary mirror gathers the light and reflects it back to a smaller mirror. The shape of the primary mirror will affect how the light is being reflected onto the secondary mirror where it will lead the light to the near-infrared cameras (NIRCam) and near-infrared spectrographs (NIRSpec) from James Webb Space Telescope (NASA, n.d). The near-infrared camera (NIRCam) is JWST’s primary imager capable of capturing ‘wavelength range 0.6 to 5 microns’ (NASA, n.d.).With this data of wavelength captured, NIRCam can detect light from stars and galaxies in the early process of formation. The NASA NIRCam's captured wavelength will then be analysed by an instrument called the near-infrared spectrographs(NIRSpec) where the evaluated spectrum will show the objects, stars and planets compositions (NASA, n.d.). With all the new features, The JWST takes more detailed images than its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).

Edited: 26/9/22

Reference list

Griggs, M.B. (2022, July 16). Why stars look spiky in images from the James Webb Space Telescope. https://www.theverge.com/23220109/james-webb-space-telescope-stars-diffraction-spike.

NASA(n.d.). Near Infrared Camera. https://webb.nasa.gov/content/observatory/instruments/nircam.html.

NASA (n.d.). Near Infrared Spectrograph. https://webb.nasa.gov/content/observatory/instruments/nirspec.html.

NASA(n.d.) What is the James Webb Space Telescope. https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/james-webb-space-telescope/en/

NASA (n.d.) NIRCam. https://webb.nasa.gov/content/observatory/instruments/nircam.html