All you need to know about NASA's James Webb Space Telescope
krishna murthy
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope is a space telescope designed primarily to conduct infrared astronomy
It will study every phase of cosmic history—from within our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe.
It was launched on 24 December 2021 aboard the Ariane V rocket from French Guiana and entered orbit in January 2022.
Webb is NASA’s largest and most powerful space science telescope ever constructed. It is intended to succeed the Hubble as NASA's flagship mission in astrophysics.
NASA released the first image from Webb on 11 July 2022, the oldest and highest resolution image of the Universe.
It will be the largest telescope ever placed in space and 100 times more powerful than Hubble.
The telescope will peer back in time over 13.5 billion years to see the first galaxies born after the Big Bang.
It will help astronomers to draw a comparison between the faintest, earliest galaxies to the present day's grand spirals and ellipticals. It will also help us to understand how galaxies assemble over billions of years.
Webb will orbit the sun, a million miles away from Earth at the second Lagrange point. It is to be noted that L2 is four times farther than the moon.
Webb telescope's 18-segment primary mirror is over 6 times bigger in area than Hubble's and will be 100 times more powerful.
It is approximately 6.5 metres in diameter. The secondary mirror is as big as Spitzer's primary mirror. It is 0.74 m in diameter while Spitzer's primary mirror is 0.85 m in diameter.(All Images Credit: @NASAWebb)