A small piece of metal from Australia helped improve the James Webb Space Telescope’s vision by a million miles away. A team used this tiny component, called aperture masking interferometer (AMI), to enhance the telescope’s resolution and correct optical and electronic distortions.
The AMI was designed in Australia and installed on the James Webb Space Telescope. It filters light with a carefully structured pattern of holes in a metal plate, making it easier to detect any optical misalignments. The team used computer models and machine learning algorithms to learn and correct these distortions simultaneously.
By correcting the data during processing, the AMI has opened the door to using it to prospect for unknown planets at previously impossible resolutions and sensitivities. The corrected images have revealed new details about stars, planets, moons, and even black hole jets.
This technology was developed by University of Sydney PhD student Louis Desdoigts and his team. They showed that with careful measurement, control, and correction of the materials used, they can still hope to find Earth-like planets in the far reaches of our galaxy.
Source: https://www.livescience.com/space/space-exploration/we-sharpened-the-james-webb-telescopes-vision-from-a-million-miles-away-heres-how