Tiny shutters for new observatory

With the Hubble Space Telescope’s sharpest camera no longer working and its repair uncertain, the spotlight falls on the orbiting observatory’s successor. Scheduled to fly in 2013, the infrared-sensing James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is designed to record the first stars and galaxies that flamed into existence.

OPENINGS AVAILABLE. Close-up of a microshutter grid that could let the James Webb Space Telescope be picky about what galaxies it observes.