MIRI Is Now Below... 7 kelvins -- At Its Preferred Operating Temperatures... Just A Hair Above Absolute Zero.

What is all this about? Well. . . it is about seeing much much further -- deeper, back in time -- to very near the moment this epoch of our current Universe formed. It is about seeing -- closer than we ever have -- to the time. . . before. . . time itself began. It is about seeing images of galaxies (and perhaps individual stars). . . that might only be two or three per cent younger than the Universe, itself. . . or said another way -- out, on the very edge of our Universe.

That frankly, gives me. . . goosebumps. I hope it does. . . for you, too -- as this is good news -- but still more calibrating image work ahead, for a few more weeks:

. . .Along with [the 'scope]’s three other instruments, MIRI initially cooled off in the shade of [her] tennis-court-size sunshield, dropping to about 90 kelvins (minus 298 F, or minus 183 C). But dropping to less than 7 kelvins required an electrically powered cryocooler. Last week, the team passed a particularly challenging milestone called the “pinch point,” when the instrument goes from 15 kelvins (minus 433 F, or minus 258 C) to 6.4 kelvins (minus 448 F, or minus 267 C).

“The MIRI cooler team has poured a lot of hard work into developing the procedure for the pinch point,” said Analyn Schneider, project manager for MIRI at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. “The team was both excited and nervous going into the critical activity. In the end it was a textbook execution of the procedure, and the cooler performance is even better than expected. . . .”

And so it goes -- we will see deeper, dimmer, darker objects -- and as I said at the top, we will see much further back in time. . . to very near the dawn of the observable Universe. . . with this instrument. And that makes me smile. . . .

नमस्ते