Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Space
  3. News

One of James Webb’s four instruments is offline following error

By

The James Webb Space Telescope is experiencing an issue with one of its instruments, the Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph, or NIRISS. The instrument is currently offline with no indication of when it will be back online, but engineers are working to address the issue and the telescope hardware remains safe.

As alarming as that might sound, it is not uncommon for such issues to crop up, especially in space telescopes. As performing physical maintenance on space telescopes is extremely difficult, software troubleshooting is done in a slow and careful way to prevent any damage from occurring. That’s why you’ll see instruments on space telescopes like Hubble or the Swift Observatory going into safe mode to protect themselves whenever an issue arises.

Recommended Videos

In the case of James Webb, the problem with the NIRISS instrument was due to a communication delay. “On Sunday, Jan. 15, the James Webb Space Telescope’s Near Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS) experienced a communications delay within the instrument, causing its flight software to time out,” NASA wrote in a statement. “The instrument is currently unavailable for science observations while NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) work together to determine and correct the root cause of the delay.”

Related

NIRISS sits alongside a sensor called the Fine Guidance Sensor or FGS which allows the telescope to point at its targets accurately. NIRISS can work as both a camera and a spectrograph and has a special feature called an aperture mask which allows it to block out light from particularly bright sources to better see dimmer sources around them. The instrument is used for tasks like detecting and examining exoplanets and for looking at distant galaxies.

The planned scientific observations which were scheduled to use NIRISS will now be rescheduled, according to NASA.

This comes on the heels of another issue with Webb which occurred in December 2022. A software issue in the attitude control system caused some instruments to enter safe mode on December 7, with science observations being paused. That was fixed by December 20, when all science operations resumed.

Editors’ Recommendations

Topics
Georgina Torbet
Georgina Torbet
Space Writer
Georgina has been the space writer at Digital Trends space writer for six years, covering human space exploration, planetary…
James Webb takes rare direct image of a nearby super-Jupiter
Artist’s impression of a cold gas giant orbiting a red dwarf. Only a point of light is visible on the JWST/MIRI images. Nevertheless, the initial analysis suggests the presence of a gaseous planet that may have properties similar to Jupiter.

Even with huge ground-based observatories and the latest technology in space-based telescopes, it's still relatively rare for astronomers to take an image of an exoplanet. Planets outside our solar system are so far away and so small and dim compared to the stars they orbit that it's extremely difficult to study them directly. That's why most observations of exoplanets are made by studying their host stars. Now, though, the James Webb Space Telescope has directly imaged a gas giant -- and it's one of the coldest exoplanets observed so far.

The planet, named Epsilon Indi Ab, is located 12 light-years away and has an estimated temperature of just 35 degrees Fahrenheit (2 degrees Celsius). The fact it is so cool compared to most exoplanets meant that Webb's sensitive instruments were needed to study it.

Read more
One half of this wild exoplanet reaches temperatures of 1,450 degrees Fahrenheit
webb wasp 39b dayside nightside stsci 01j2f12rm1s3n39yj938nhsf93 png

This artist’s concept shows what the exoplanet WASP-39 b could look like based on indirect transit observations from JWST and other space- and ground-based telescopes. Data collected by its NIRSpec (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) show variations between the morning and evening atmosphere of the planet. NASA, ESA, CSA, Ralf Crawford (STScI)

One of the ground-breaking abilities of the James Webb Space Telescope is that researchers can use it to not only detect distant planets but also to peer into their atmosphere. Now, new research using Webb has uncovered differing conditions between morning and evening on a distant exoplanet, the first time such differences have been observed on a planet outside our solar system.

Read more
Webb captures a Penguin and an Egg for its two-year anniversary
This “penguin party” is loud! The distorted spiral galaxy at center, the Penguin, and the compact elliptical galaxy at left, the Egg, are locked in an active embrace. A new near- and mid-infrared image from the James Webb Space Telescope, taken to mark its second year of science, shows that their interaction is marked by a faint upside-down U-shaped blue glow.

This “penguin party” is loud! The distorted spiral galaxy at center, called the Penguin, and the compact elliptical galaxy at left, called the Egg, are locked in an active embrace. A new near- and mid-infrared image from the James Webb Space Telescope, taken to mark its second year of science, shows that their interaction is marked by a faint upside-down U-shaped blue glow. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI

Today, July 12, marks two years since the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope were unveiled. In that time, Webb has discovered the most distant galaxies known, uncovered surprises about the early universe, peered into the atmospheres of distant planets, and produced a plethora of beautiful images of space.

Read more