James Webb Space Telescope
From the NASA description:"The James Webb Space Telescope will be a large infrared telescope with a 6.5-meter primary mirror." The telescope was launched on December 25, 2021. JWST will be the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System." By comparison, its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, had a 2.4m mirror and was situated in an orbit 570 km from the Earth. |  NASA image |
 | The Telescope will be placed at the Earth-Sun L2 Lagrange point which is outward from the Earth about 1% of the Earth-Sun distance. |
NASA Images
 | From the NASA description: "The telescope itself will be operating at about 225 degrees below zero Celsius (minus 370 Fahrenheit). The temperature difference between the hot and cold sides of the telescope is huge - you could almost boil water on the hot side, and freeze nitrogen on the cold side!" Image courtesy NASA. The first James Webb image was released on July 11, 2022. Click on the image at right for a larger view. |  |
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James Webb Images
Solar System Concepts
Telescopes
| HyperPhysics********** Astrophysics | R Nave |