See yourself in a whole new light! Draw a portrait showing how you’d look in infrared.
View Activity →Keep It Cool
Deep Space Diary
Activity 3.3
One of Webb’s special instruments – the Mid-Infrared Instrument or MIRI – detects infrared light emitted by objects in space and creates images of them. MIRI must be kept at -266 degrees Celsius to capture infrared light, which is thirty degrees cooler than Webb’s other instruments. Because of this, engineers have developed a special cryogenic cooling system for it. This activity allows students to explore how materials can act as insulators and conductors, by trialling a range of materials.
Support Materials
Multimedia Downloads
Table of Results – Template (127.87 KB pdf) ↓Links
- Table of Results Template
Students can use this template to record their findings with their experiments - How Webb's sunshield keeps the telescope’s cold side cool
- Clip about the sunshield’s properties and passive cooling
- MIRI fact sheet
- Clip about MIRI
More Activities
Infrared Selfie
First Findings
Analyse your telescope’s first infrared image to identify the new wonders you’ve discovered.
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