Special infrared filters for a new NASA telescope have been developed in Ireland by engineers working at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
More than 200 engineers across Europe have worked over a decade on the Mid Infra-Red Instrument, which was declared ready for delivery this week.
The instrument will form part of the James Webb Space Telescope, which is due for launch in 2018.
Irish engineers at DIAS produced the infrared filters that break up the light into its various components.
The Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies says it is now playing a major role in developing software to analyse the data from the Mid Infra-Red Instrument in collaboration with the Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland.
The MIRI will be able to penetrate dust obscuring distant objects, allowing for smaller and fainter objects than have ever been detected to be mapped in unprecedented detail.
