NASA's James Webb Space Telescope observes asteroid named after Tenzing Norgay in new test

The James Webb Space Telescope has moved even closer to its awakening thanks to the latest tests conducted by NASA scientists. The world’s most expensive observatory has successfully observed a moving asteroid for the first time ever. In an official blog published recently, NASA said that the ‘moving target’ (MT) capability test has verified that Webb is capable of monitoring moving targets. The telescope is currently in the last stages of its commissioning as engineers are testing its instruments before turning them on in a couple of months. 

Why does Webb need to locate moving objects?

Once the telescope begins its observations of the universe, it will study distant stars and galaxies to acquire their images with extreme precision. But along with these galaxies, scientists also plan to observe exoplanets and their moons along with asteroids and comets of our own solar system. As we know, these planetary objects are not stationary and tend to move around their orbits across the universe, and if Webb is unable to lock on these objects, astronomers would miss out on unprecedented discoveries waiting to be unveiled. 

With the completion of asteroid tracking, the mission team will now locate other objects moving at different speeds to verify if Webb is absolutely capable of observing moving targets through the universe. As for the asteroid used for the recent observation, it resides in the main asteroid belt of our solar system. Dubbed 6481 Tenzing, the asteroid is named after Tenzing Norgay, one of the first people to reach the summit of Mount Everest, and was chosen among 40 asteroids to test the MT tracking.

With Webb, astronomers are planning to image Saturn's rings, explore objects in the Kuiper belt, and analyse the atmosphere of Mars among other targets. Notably, 7% of the telescope's time in its first operational year will be focused on our solar system.

Heidi Hammel, Webb's interdisciplinary scientist said in a statement, "I am really excited about Webb’s upcoming first year of science operations! Webb can detect the faint light of the earliest galaxies, but my team will be observing much closer to home. They will use Webb to unravel some of the mysteries that abound in our own solar system".