James Webb Space Telescope hit by tiny meteorite

[Aiken_Drumn]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-61744257

A tiny rock fragment has hit the new James Webb Space Telescope's main mirror.

The damage inflicted by the dust-sized micrometeoroid is producing a noticeable effect in the observatory's data but is not expected to limit the mission's overall performance.

James Webb was launched in December to succeed the revolutionary - but now ageing - Hubble Space Telescope.

Astronomers are due to release its first views of the cosmos on 12 July.

The US space agency Nasa said these images would be no less stunning because of what's just happened.

 

[Kaitzilla]

Gah!

 

[EnglishEdward]

Pardon me, but may I (not being a mathematician proficient in celestial mechanics),
speculate that moving the telescope so far from Earth and into a particular LaGrange
point has meant that it is in space that is not swept by the Earth's gravity where
micro-meteorites and dust etc. may be much more common than nearer to Earth.

If so, it may be progressively dented until it is no longer useful.

 

[r16]

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