{"id":153524,"date":"2021-12-20T13:13:57","date_gmt":"2021-12-20T23:13:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=153524"},"modified":"2021-12-30T10:25:10","modified_gmt":"2021-12-30T20:25:10","slug":"uh-designed-sensors-aboard-historic-space-telescope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2021\/12\/20\/uh-designed-sensors-aboard-historic-space-telescope\/","title":{"rendered":"Ground-breaking <abbr>UH<\/abbr>-designed sensors aboard NASA\u2019s historic space telescope"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_48969\"  width=\"620\" height=\"349\"  data-origwidth=\"620\" data-origheight=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WSdzd4LLsHo?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"Ground-breaking UH-designed sensors aboard NASA\u2019s historic space telescope\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n<p>After NASA launches the James Webb Space Telescope (<abbr>JWST<\/abbr>) on a historic mission this December, scientists anticipate their first glimpse of the most distant objects ever seen in the universe. Technology developed and tested at the University of <span aria-label=\"Hawaii\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ifa.hawaii.edu\/\">Institute for Astronomy<\/a> (<abbr>IfA<\/abbr>) and on Maunakea are behind <abbr>JWST<\/abbr>\u2019s ability to gaze deeper into space than ever before.<\/p>\n<p>Sixteen near-infrared (<abbr>NIR<\/abbr>) sensors known as HAWAII-2<abbr>RG<\/abbr>s are part of <abbr>JWST<\/abbr>\u2019s science instruments, enabling it to capture near-infrared light from deep space, far surpassing the capability of NASA\u2019s Hubble Space Telescope. These sensors are the culmination of years of research and development by <abbr>IfA<\/abbr> scientists and engineers. Early prototypes were developed and tested by <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> astronomers <strong>Don Hall<\/strong>, <strong>Klaus Hodapp<\/strong>, and <strong>Doug Simons<\/strong>, along with <abbr>IfA<\/abbr> instrumentation engineer <strong>Shane Jacobson<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<h2>Testing on Maunakea<\/h2>\n<figure id=\"attachment_153533\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-153533\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/manoa-ifa-jwst-2-300x211.jpg\" alt=\"James Webb Space Telescope\" width=\"300\" height=\"211\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-153533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/manoa-ifa-jwst-2-300x211.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/manoa-ifa-jwst-2-130x91.jpg 130w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/12\/manoa-ifa-jwst-2.jpg 676w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-153533\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">James Webb Space Telescope (Photo credit: NASA\/Chris Gunn)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>NASA selected <abbr>IfA<\/abbr>\u2019s HAWAII-2<abbr>RG<\/abbr> sensors for use on the highly anticipated &ldquo;next generation&rdquo; space telescope after decades of testing and perfecting. These detectors not only met all design requirements, they also offered  bonus features that made it easier for NASA to build <abbr>JWST<\/abbr>&#8216;s three <abbr>NIR<\/abbr> instruments, which have very demanding environmental needs in deep space. An integral part of the testing process was the ability to mount the sensors on the <abbr>IfA<\/abbr>-operated <abbr>UH<\/abbr> 88-inch telescope on Maunakea, allowing for rapid and efficient evaluation of the detectors and testing over long periods of time to ensure no surprises on the upcoming mission.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The extremely dark skies and exquisite image quality that we get from Maunakea allows us to really push technology hard and to explore where its limits are in terms of astronomical research potential,&rdquo; said Simons, who serves as the <abbr>IfA<\/abbr> Director.<\/p>\n<p>The <abbr>JWST<\/abbr> <abbr>NIR<\/abbr> detectors are the culmination of advancements made by <abbr>UH<\/abbr> and its industrial partner, Teledyne Imaging Sensors. Hall, who died in March 2020, pioneered the sensors, which are characterized by their unique combination of the metals mercury, cadmium, and tellurium (<abbr>HgCdTe<\/abbr>), producing semiconductors with an extremely high sensitivity. The sensors are from a line that <abbr>IfA<\/abbr> called the HAWAII (<abbr><strong>H<\/strong>gCdTe<\/abbr> <strong>A<\/strong>stronomical <strong>W<\/strong>ide <strong>A<\/strong>rea <strong>I<\/strong>nfrared <strong>I<\/strong>mager) Arrays.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I have absolute faith in our technology and NASA\u2019s capabilities,&rdquo; said Hodapp, &ldquo;But this is an extremely complicated endeavor. For those of us involved with <abbr>JWST<\/abbr>, it\u2019s months of nervous anticipation from launch to deployment a million miles away in space, to the unfolding of the instrument and eventual successful activation of the telescope.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><abbr>IfA<\/abbr> has demonstrated its leadership in sensor development and adaptive optics technology, which has helped expand research capabilities in the astronomy field. Many ground-based telescopes on Maunakea and around the world use the H2RG detectors in their instruments. The predecessor of the <abbr>H2RG<\/abbr>s, called the <abbr>H1RG<\/abbr>, is also widely used in both ground-based observatories and in Hubble. <abbr>IfA<\/abbr> has also helped develop the latest generation sensors, <abbr>H4RG<\/abbr>s, which have 16 million pixels compared to the previous generation\u2019s 4 million, and is expected to rapidly expand the technology into the future.<\/p>\n<p>This research is an example of <abbr>UH<\/abbr> M\u0101noa\u2019s goal of <a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/manoa-2025-strategic-plan.pdf#page=25\">Excellence in Research: Advancing the Research and Creative Work Enterprise<\/a> (<span class=\"small-text\"><abbr title=\"Portable Document Format\">PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), one of four goals identified in the <a href=\"https:\/\/manoa.hawaii.edu\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/manoa-2025-strategic-plan.pdf\">2015&#8211;25 Â鶹´«Ã½<\/a> (<span class=\"small-text\"><abbr title=\"Portable Document Format\">PDF<\/abbr><\/span>), updated in December 2020.<\/p>\n<div class=\"responsive-video-wrap-post\"><figure class=\"wp-block-embed wp-block-embed-youtube is-type-video is-provider-youtube epyt-figure\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\"><div class=\"epyt-video-wrapper\"><iframe  id=\"_ytid_75074\"  width=\"620\" height=\"349\"  data-origwidth=\"620\" data-origheight=\"349\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/m4Hq-F4bBP0?enablejsapi=1&origin=https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu&rel=0&autoplay=0&cc_load_policy=0&cc_lang_pref=&iv_load_policy=1&loop=0&fs=1&playsinline=0&autohide=2&theme=dark&color=red&controls=1&disablekb=0&\" class=\"__youtube_prefs__  no-lazyload\" title=\"UH-designed sensors aboard NASA\u2019s historic space telescope\"  allow=\"fullscreen; accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen data-no-lazy=\"1\" data-skipgform_ajax_framebjll=\"\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><abbr>IfA<\/abbr>-designed sensors tested on Maunakea will enable the James Webb Space Telescope to gaze deeper into space than ever before. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,12],"tags":[35,659,9,56],"class_list":["post-153524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","category-video","tag-institute-for-astronomy","tag-maunakea","tag-uh-manoa","tag-video-2","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153524"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":153829,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153524\/revisions\/153829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}