A pair of Sydney Ph.D. students helped sharpen the view of humanity’s most powerful space observatory—without leaving Earth.
This technical breakthrough saw University of Sydney researchers develop a software fix that corrected blurring in images made by NASA’s multibillion-dollar James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), restoring crisp performance to one of its vital scientific instruments—all without the need for a space mission or astronaut repair.
These were injecting fuzziness into recovered images—a problem reminiscent of the predecessor to JWST, the Hubble Space Telescope’s early “blurry vision” after launch, which famously required a space shuttle mission and astronaut spacewalks to correct.
“It’s incredibly rewarding to see a software solution extend the telescope’s scientific reach—and to know it was possible without ever leaving the lab.”
This release coincides with the latest round of James Webb Space Telescope General Observer, Survey and Archival Research programs.
The two Sydney Ph. A. Without leaving Earth, students contributed to improving the view of the most potent space observatory in the world. Both Louis Desdoigts, a postdoctoral researcher at Leiden in the Netherlands, and his colleague Max Charles had tattoos of the instrument their work has repaired inked on their arms as a permanent reminder of this exciting outcome.
With the help of this technological advancement, researchers at the University of Sydney created a software program that fixed blurring in photos taken by NASA’s multibillion-dollar James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), allowing one of its essential scientific instruments to function clearly again without the need for an astronaut or space mission.
It builds on the Aperture Masking Interferometer (AMI), which was developed by Professor Peter Tuthill of the University of Sydney’s School of Physics and Sydney Institute for Astronomy and is the only Australian-designed hardware on the JWST. With the AMI, astronomers can use a technique called interferometry—which combines light from several patches on the telescope’s main mirror—to capture ultra-high-resolution images of stars and exoplanets.
However, scientists found that minor electronic distortions in the infrared camera detector of JWST were deteriorating AMI’s performance after it started up. These were introducing fuzziness into recovered images, a problem that was similar to the Hubble Space Telescope’s early “blurry vision” following launch, which was infamously fixed by astronaut spacewalks and a space shuttle mission.
Instead of creating a new lens or launching such an expensive rescue effort, Ph. D. Students Louis Desdoigts and Max Charles from Professor Tuthill’s group developed a software-only, data-driven calibration system that fixed the focus from the ground up, in collaboration with Associate Professor Ben Pope of Macquarie University.
AMIGO (Aperture Masking Interferometry Generative Observations) is their system, which models the behavior of the telescope’s optics and electronics in space using sophisticated simulations and neural networks. The team created algorithms that “de-blurred” the images and restored AMI’s full sensitivity by comprehending an imperfection called the brighter-fatter effect, in which electrical charge bleeds over into nearby pixels.
Professor Tuthill stated, “They were able to fix things with code instead of sending astronauts to bolt on new parts.”. “It’s a fantastic illustration of how Australian ingenuity can enhance space science globally. “.”.
The outcome of the fix is amazing. The direct imaging of a faint exoplanet and a red-brown dwarf orbiting the nearby star HD 206893, which is approximately 133 light years from Earth, are among the sharper-than-ever detections of faint celestial objects made possible by AMIGO.
A follow-up study headed by Ph.D. A. Sydney student has pushed the limits of JWST’s capabilities by taking high-resolution pictures of a black hole jet, the dusty stellar winds of WR 137, and the volcanic surface of one of Jupiter’s moons (Io), demonstrating AMI’s renewed focus.
Dr. Dot Desdoigts stated, “This work brings JWST’s vision into even sharper focus.”. “To witness a software solution broaden the telescope’s scientific scope and to know that it was made possible without ever leaving the lab is profoundly satisfying. “..”.
Doctor. In the Netherlands, Desdoigts has now secured a postdoctoral research position at Leiden University.
Published on the pre-print server arXiv are both studies. The peer-reviewed paper by Dr. Dot Desdoigts will soon appear in the Publications of the Astronomical Society of Australia. The most recent round of the James Webb Space Telescope General Observer, Survey, and Archival Research programs is being released at the same time.
