A Software Glitch Forced the Webb Space Telescope Into Safe Mode

The Webb Space Telescope’s devices have been in secure mode intermittently since December 7, however scientific operations resumed earlier this week, NASA stated in a press release on Wednesday.

Webb was in secure mode—throughout which all of the observatory’s nonessential programs are turned off, which implies no scientific operations—a number of instances within the final two weeks, the discharge said. Though NASA says the difficulty is resolved and “the observatory and instruments are all in good health,” the company additionally didn’t report the glitch till yesterday.

Webb is a $10 billion house observatory that photographs the cosmos at infrared and near-infrared wavelengths. It is a state-of-the-art telescope that has captured our consideration in its first six months of scientific observations, revealing iconic constructions like the Pillars of Creation in new mild.

The NASA launch says the “software fault triggered in the attitude control system,” the equipment that guides the place the observatory is pointing. That’s most instructions, besides that the telescope was turned away from the micrometeoroid avoidance zone within the spring, to guard the telescope’s mirrors. That maneuver got here following an area rock strike that broken one of many mirror panels.

The pauses added as much as a number of days that the telescope couldn’t do observations this month, NASA stated. Now, science is totally again underway, and the Webb crew is working to reschedule the observations affected by the glitch.

Yesterday, Webb posted the cosmic equal of a vacation card: a picture of the spiral galaxy NGC 7469, which bears a resemblance to a wreath. The galaxy is 220 million light-years away and appears to be like distinctly serene in Webb’s eye. Sharp diffraction spikes unfold from the galactic heart, the place a supermassive black gap resides.

Besides seeing identified objects in new methods, Webb has imaged mild from the earliest corners of the universe, mild which was too faint for older observatories to see.

One of Webb’s core scientific objectives is to examine historic mild sources—the earliest stars and galaxies—to know how these objects emerged and developed in deep time.

In different phrases, it’d be very nice if Webb might keep away from secure mode, for the sake of science. But higher secure than sorry, and now that the telescope is again to enterprise, let’s hope it stays that method.

More: Webb Telescope Brings a Once-Fuzzy Galaxy Into Focus