The James Webb telescope will spend the next two years flying through dust and grit left by Comet Halley in our solar system. Scientists want to prevent the 10 billion dollar (9.8 billion euro) telescope from being damaged again like it did in May this year.
So it is not Comet Halley itself that could collide with the James Webb telescope, even though it measures about 15 by 8 kilometers. After all, Halley only orbits the sun about every 75 years and is not expected to return to our solar system until 2061. Then Halley will pass relatively close to Earth, potentially as bright as the brightest star Sirius. By then, the Webb telescope will probably be gone. The hope is that it will last into the early 2040s. Halley is, as far as we know, the only comet that can be seen with the naked eye twice in a lifetime.
Comets are made up of dust, rocks and ice. When they get close to the sun, they melt and repel material. They leave sand-sized grit on their way to and from the solar system, both before and after their loop around the sun. Engineers expect about one meteoroid impact per month, but that could increase dramatically if the telescope travels through a meteor shower.
NASA is trying to predict meteor showers for the engineers so that they can safely guide the Webb telescope through as far as possible. Peaks are expected in May next year and the year after, when Webb will fly through Halley’s comet stream.
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