NASA James Webb Space Telescope First Image Will Have to Wait For Months—No Cameras Yet?

NASA James Webb Space Telescope's first image or photo will have to wait for a couple of months to see the light of day. It comes as the powerful observatory still lacks cameras just yet.

That said, there is no way that NASA is releasing actual photos from the $10 billion worth observatory anytime now.

NASA James Webb Space Telescope First Images

As per the news story by Mashable, the most powerful and largest space telescope that was ever developed in history still lacks any surveillance cameras mounted in its body.

As such, it would not be possible to get any photos from it even if it has been successfully launched to space after years of multiple delays.

Instead, we will have to wait for a couple of months from now or by the second half of the year 2022. It comes as the first image of the massive telescope is expected to be taken as early as June.

The commissioning manager for the James Webb telescope of NASA or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Keith Parrish, shared that "nobody would love to see Webb doing its thing right now, more than us."

James Webb Space Telescope: No Cameras?

The NASA official further clarified in the same press conference that the lack of any cameras from the James Webb Space Telescope is not a result of a mishap on the part of the United States space agency.

Instead, Parrish disclosed that installing cameras on the space telescope is tedious and complicated to do so.

So, its absence is intentional. Hence, we will have to wait for six months for the cameras to be mounted to its body.

The commissioning manager added that if they had installed the surveillance cameras to the James Webb telescope prematurely, it would have destroyed the ability of the observatory to get photos of far-flung space discoveries.

James Webb Space Telescope's Coolest Cameras

According to the online article by NASA, the Webb space telescope will sport the "coolest" camera in space.

It is worth noting that the largest observatory in the world uses infrared light to see billions of miles away from it.

That said, it has to maintain a cold temperature due to the infrared technology of the telescope, which could detect even the infrared glow of the James Webb space instrument.

What NASA means by cold is an out-of-this-world kind with minus 388 degrees Fahrenheit for most of its body. However, it gets even icy-cold inside the mid-infrared instrument of the telescope, which is minus 448 degrees Fahrenheit.

So, the space agency needs to install a camera that has been developed in such an extreme and dark environment.

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Written by Teejay Boris