NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will be looking at the universe with infrared vision. In order to optimally accomplish this mission, the observatory has to be kept as cold as possible. A carefully designed set of 5 coated layers of a special material called Kapton work together to enable the heat to be deflected from the telescope. This episode of Behind the Webb shows what the deployment of the sunshield and its layers looks like from the ground.

This is the captioned version of the film.

This award-winning short film transforms images and data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope into a voyage that sweeps viewers across the universe and back into cosmic history.

The film opens with looming images of two mature galaxies that are relatively nearby Earth, and then pans through the vibrant and diverse panorama of thousands of galaxies in an image from the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey. The ensuing 3-D journey through these galaxies provides more than just a new perspective in space; it also takes the audience back in time. Because light takes time to journey across space, the galaxies farther away from Earth are seen further back in cosmic history. The virtual voyage reveals galaxies as they appeared billions of years ago, when they were still in the process of forming.

Originally released as an IMAX film, “Hubble: Galaxies Across Space and Time” was named “Best Short Film” of 2004 by the Large Format Cinema Association.

A production of the Office of Public Outreach at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Producer: John Stoke
Director: Frank Summers
Writers: John Stoke and Frank Summers
Visualization Leads: Greg Bacon and Frank Summers
Narrator: Barbara Feldon
Music: Jon Serrie

This award-winning short film transforms images and data from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope into a voyage that sweeps viewers across the universe and back into cosmic history.

The film opens with looming images of two mature galaxies that are relatively nearby Earth, and then pans through the vibrant and diverse panorama of thousands of galaxies in an image from the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey. The ensuing 3-D journey through these galaxies provides more than just a new perspective in space; it also takes the audience back in time. Because light takes time to journey across space, the galaxies farther away from Earth are seen further back in cosmic history. The virtual voyage reveals galaxies as they appeared billions of years ago, when they were still in the process of forming.

Originally released as an IMAX film, “Hubble: Galaxies Across Space and Time” was named “Best Short Film” of 2004 by the Large Format Cinema Association.

A production of the Office of Public Outreach at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI)
Producer: John Stoke
Director: Frank Summers
Writers: John Stoke and Frank Summers
Visualization Leads: Greg Bacon and Frank Summers
Narrator: Barbara Feldon
Music: Jon Serrie