(WBBM NEWSRADIO) —This is Day Four of the voyage of the James Webb Space Telescope, and astronomers in Chicago and elsewhere are watching to see if everything unfolds — literally — the way it should.
So far, so good — a few days into the telescope’s 29-day trip.
“And now the really nerve-wracking part starts,” said Michelle Nichols, director of public observing at the Adler Planetarium.
She said the first steps in one of the trickiest phases are just beginning with the unfurling of the sun shield.
Nichols is curious to learn whether planets around other stars are actually as “Earth-like” as some have speculated.
“A lot of times you hear the term ‘Earth-like planet’ being thrown around, but we have not yet found a planet that is absolutely a twin to our own.
“We have some that are the same size. Maybe a similar temperature, maybe a similar surface. But beyond that, we don’t know if there are any that are truly Earth-like.
“But this telescope should get us to the next step.”
The telescope’s first images are likely months away.
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