Scientists working for the European Space Agency, or ESA have completed the second instrument for the James Webb Space Telescope.

Scientists working for the European Space Agency, or ESA have completed the second of two instruments they are supplying to the James Webb Space Telescope.
The telescope, known by its acronym JWST, will be more powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope when it is completed.

Manufactured by Astrium in Germany, the Near-infrared spectrometer is one of four instruments that will make up the major components of the JWST.

This particular instrument can pick up and measure light signals that might be up to 13 point 6 billion years old before they reach the telescope.

Using the light signals measured by the Near-infrared spectrometer, scientists will be able to figure out the age and distance of the light, along with the chemical make up and physical properties of up to 100 celestial bodies at once.

It took ten years to develop the Near-infrared spectrometer, and the ESA is handing it over to NASA, so they can add it to the JWST observatory, currently being assembled in the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland.

Several problems have arisen over the course of making the JWST, including going over budget.