James Webb Space Telescope’s Multifaceted MIRI

  • Released Thursday, January 25, 2018
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James Webb Space Telescope’s mid-infrared instrument (MIRI) has both a camera and a spectrograph that sees light in the mid-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum, with wavelengths that are longer than our eyes see. MIRI covers the wavelength range of 5 to 28.5 microns. Its sensitive detectors will allow it to see the redshifted light of distant galaxies, helping identify the first galaxies in the universe, observe newly forming stars by peering inside dust-shrouded stellar nurseries, and analyze the atmospheres of exoplanets for markers of potential life. MIRI's camera will provide wide-field, broadband imaging that will return breathtaking astrophotography.

MIRI was built by the MIRI Consortium (a group that consists of scientists and engineers from European countries), a team from the Jet Propulsion Lab in California, and scientists from several U.S. institutions.

James Webb Space Telescope’s mid-infrared instrument (MIRI) will allow the telescope to see distant galaxies, pierce stellar nurseries to spy newly formed stars, and analyze the atmospheres of exoplanets for biomarkers of potential life. MIRI's camera will provide imaging that will continue the breathtaking astrophotography that has made Hubble so admired.

A turntable animation of the James Webb Space Telescope Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI).

Credits

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NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

This page was originally published on Thursday, January 25, 2018.
This page was last updated on Wednesday, May 3, 2023 at 1:47 PM EDT.

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