In outer space, the Webb Telescope's appearance is revealed through a European space mission.
The European Space Agency's Gaia spacecraft, primarily designed for astrometry, made a unique observation on 18 February 2022. It captured an image of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in space, thanks to its precise observational capabilities and the reflective surface of the telescope.
Gaia orbits at the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange point, approximately 1.5 million kilometres from Earth. This location, shared by JWST, allowed Gaia to capture reflected sunlight from the telescope during its routine sky-scanning operations.
The Gaia spacecraft's 'finder' instrument was used to capture raw data of the Webb Telescope, which was sent back to Earth. The image inset shows Webb as the bigger white speck, with the other three specks being cosmic ray particles picked up by Gaia's CCD camera.
Although Gaia is not primarily designed to capture images of space, it can observe faint objects reflecting sunlight near L2, combining its high-precision scanning with the telescope’s reflective surface visible in Gaia’s instruments. This imaging is possible because both Gaia and JWST share the same general orbital vicinity.
The opportunity for Gaia to capture an image of the Webb Telescope was not a coincidence, but the result of calculations made by Uli Bastian of Heidelberg University in Germany and Francois Mignard of Nice Observatory in France.
Gaia is also capturing detailed data on asteroids, but its primary mission is to survey over 1 billion stars to create a detailed 3D map of our Galaxy. In contrast, the Webb Telescope, with its advanced capabilities, is designed to capture amazing images of distant celestial objects.
Such observations help confirm JWST’s position, orientation, and improve space situational awareness. This event marks a significant milestone in the collaboration between space missions, demonstrating the potential for future joint observations.
[1] Webb Telescope's First Images [2] Gaia Mission Overview [3] Gaia Discovers Asteroids with Moons [4] Gaia Captures Image of Webb Telescope [5] Gaia's Image of Webb Telescope Explained
[4] The Gaia spacecraft, though primarily designed for astrometry, captured a unique image of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) in space on 18 February 2022, using its precise observational capabilities and the reflective surface of the telescope.
[5] The imaging is possible because both Gaia and JWST share the same general orbital vicinity at the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange point.
