By Dylan Marsh
EAGLE TIMES STAFF
CHARLESTOWN -NASA has released the first awe inspiring photos taken with the James Webb Space Telescope on Tuesday, July 12, 2022. These photos, seen the world over, would not be possible without the lenses crafted by Optical Solutions Incorporated, a company located in Charlestown, New Hampshire. The JWST has managed to capture photos of previously unseen star systems. One photo which captured what scientists are calling the “Cosmic Cliffs” appear as cliffs and valleys, are actually a gaseous cavity that stretches seven light years high.
Wanting to correct the flawed optics of the Hubble Telescope, NASA searched the world over for the best optics fabrication companies; finally, they landed on OSI. The Charlestown company is no stranger to working with NASA, as their lenses are also utilized on NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy or SOFIA. NASA sought out a compact high-resolution solution for their lenses, the material used to create them are three different types of crystals.
“We got the specs for the lenses, and I knew right away that we would be able to make them. Eventually we got a call from Lockheed Martin, and they said that our lenses were by far better than any of the other companies. So, we got the contract for all of the lenses, and they were made right here in Charlestown,” said Brad Picarillo, owner of OSI.
The lenses in question are for the Near-Infrared Camera or NIRCam, which was able to take images of NGC 3324, a star forming region in the Carina Nebula located 7,600 light years away. For reference one light year is roughly six trillion miles.
Picarillo said he and his team worked on the JWST for around seven years and that it’s been nine years since seeing the project. Picarillo said he is not only proud but grateful for the opportunity to work on the project.
In December 2021, NASA unveiled the JWST to the scientific community and Picarillo was asked to be one of the 16 presenters. The telescope was launched on Christmas and spent roughly three months calibrating itself. The OSI owner also fondly recalled being one of two people to be approved by the Empress of Japan to visit the Subaru Telescope facility at an astronomer’s convention in Hawaii.
“This is absolutely a once in a lifetime opportunity. I’ll remember this when I’m old and on my deathbed. It’s something my kids and grandkids will be able to acknowledge. You just can’t repeat something like this. It wasn’t a luck thing, when they sent the prints, I knew we could do this,” said Picarillo of the accomplishment.
The NASA website describes the JWST as, “a giant leap forward in our quest to understand the Universe and our origins,” and explains that it is, “a powerful time machine with infrared vision that will peer back over 13.5 billion years to see the first stars and galaxies forming out of the darkness of the early universe.” Scientists are looking forward to ways in which the telescope will help us understand how galaxies are assembled and possibly the building blocks of other forms of life in the universe.
The James Webb Space Telescope was named for the second appointed administrator of NASA from February 14, 1961, to October 7, 1968. He was appointed by President John F. Kennedy and began the undertaking of the goal to reach the moon before the end of the 1960s. In 1969, Webb was presented with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
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