NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope: The ultimate guide
Article by: https://www.space.com/
The James Webb Space Telescope launched on Dec. 25, 2021.
NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is an infrared space observatory that launched on Dec 25, 2021, from ESA’s launch site at Kourou in French Guiana, at 7:20 a.m. EST (1220 GMT; 9:20 a.m. local time in Kourou), aboard an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket.
NASA will release the first scientific images from Webb on July, 12. You can watch all the excitement here at Space.com courtesy of NASA or directly through the agency’s website(opens in new tab).
The $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope — NASA’s largest and most powerful space science telescope — will probe the cosmos to uncover the history of the universe from the Big Bang to alien planet formation and beyond. It is one of NASA’s Great Observatories, huge space instruments that include the likes of the Hubble Space Telescope to peer deep into the cosmos.
It took 30 days for the James Webb Space Telescope to travel nearly a million miles (1.5 million kilometers) to its permanent home: a Lagrange point — a gravitationally stable location in space. The telescope arrived at L2, the second sun-Earth Lagrange point on Jan. 24, 2022.
L2 is a spot in space near Earth that lies opposite from the sun; this orbit will allow the telescope to stay in line with Earth as it orbits the sun. It has been a popular spot for several other space telescopes, including the Herschel Space Telescope and the Planck Space Observatory.
Launch date: Dec. 25, 2021.
Cost (at time of launch): $10 billion.
Orbit: JWST will orbit the sun, around the second Lagrange point (L2), nearly 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth.
Primary mirror size: 21.3 feet (6.5 meters) across.
Sunshield: 69.5 ft by 46.5 ft (22 meters x 12 meters).
Mass: 14,300 lbs (6,500 kg).
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