Exploring the Universe with the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

A powerful new observatory designed to study the universe in infrared light.


The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, space-based observatory that is designed to study the universe in infrared light. It is named after James E. Webb, a prominent figure in the early days of space exploration and the second administrator of NASA.

JWST is set to be the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built, with a primary mirror that is 6.5 meters (21.3 feet) in diameter - more than three times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope's primary mirror. It is designed to operate at a location known as the second Lagrange point (L2), which is about 1.5 million kilometers (about 930,000 miles) from Earth in the opposite direction from the sun.The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large, space-based observatory that is designed to study the universe in infrared light. It is named after James E. Webb, a prominent figure in the early days of space exploration and the second administrator of NASA.

JWST is set to be the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built, with a primary mirror that is 6.5 meters (21.3 feet) in diameter - more than three times larger than the Hubble Space Telescope's primary mirror. It is designed to operate at a location known as the second Lagrange point (L2), which is about 1.5 million kilometers (about 930,000 miles) from Earth in the opposite direction from the sun.

The telescope's instruments include a near-infrared camera, a near-infrared spectrograph, a mid-infrared instrument, and a fine guidance sensor. These instruments are designed to operate at very low temperatures (-263 degrees Celsius, or -441 degrees Fahrenheit) to reduce background noise and improve their sensitivity.

JWST's large primary mirror is made up of 18 hexagonal segments that can be adjusted individually to ensure that they are all aligned correctly. This is necessary because the mirror will deform slightly due to the extreme temperatures and conditions it will encounter in space.




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