On July 12, NASA revealed four more debut images from the JWST. (Image credit: NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI) Known as Webb’s First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Everything has to work perfectly on the first attempt, which is one of the reasons why it's taken NASA the best part of two decades to get Webb ready for launch. Unlike its predecessor, Webb isn't easily reachable by a repair team of astronauts if it breaks down. This will give Webb a much clearer view of the universe than the one Hubble has in low-Earth orbit, but it does have a downside. Related: How many satellites orbit Earth?įollowing in the footsteps of ESA's Herschel infrared observatory, the Webb telescope will be located nearly 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth at the so-called L2 point, according to NASA's JWST website. So the best place for an infrared telescope is out in space, as far as possible from the Earth and all its unwanted sources of heat. On top of that, the Earth produces its own infrared emissions via heat radiation, which tend to swamp the fainter astronomical sources. But infrared poses problems for Earth-based telescopes, because much of it is blocked by our planet's atmosphere, according to the University of St Andrews (opens in new tab). (Image credit: NASA) (opens in new tab)įor many astronomical objects, including star-forming regions, exoplanets and the most distant galaxies, these very long wavelengths are more useful to astronomers than the visible spectrum. James Webb, after whom the telescope is named, was NASA administrator in the 1960s. So it won't be able to see green or blue light, just orange and red - plus a wide range of longer wavelengths beyond that. Hubble spanned all of this, plus a little way into the ultraviolet at shorter wavelengths and infrared at longer ones.īut the JWST will primarily be an infrared telescope, optimized for 600 to 28,000 nm, according to NASA's JWST website (opens in new tab). Ordinary optical telescopes see in the same part of the spectrum as our own eyes, covering a range of wavelengths between roughly 380 and 740 nanometers (nm), as Live Science has previously reported. Related: How are asteroids and space debris detected before they hit Earth? While it is both those things - with more than two and a half times the diameter and a hundred times the sensitivity - at its heart the JWST is a different type of instrument altogether. NASA is keen to emphasize that Webb isn't simply a bigger and more powerful telescope than Hubble. Nevertheless, the scientists involved in the project believe the results will more than compensate for the time and money invested in it. Building the telescope cost nearly $10 billion, almost doubling the estimated cost since 2009, according to the U.S. Webb was originally planned to cost half a billion dollars and be ready for launch in 2007, the Atlantic (opens in new tab) reported.However, these estimates turned out to be over-optimistic, given the enormously complex and innovative design of the spacecraft. ![]() (Image credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images) (opens in new tab) 25, 2021, Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket launches with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope onboard, from the ELA-3 Launch Zone of Europes Spaceport at the Guiana Space Centre at Europes Spaceport, at the Guiana Space Center in French Guiana. (NASA announced in September 2021 that they would not rename the mission, reported.) ![]() It was way back in 2002, almost 20 years ago, when Webb's name was first applied to what had previously been referred to as the "Next Generation Space Telescope." That decision was later called into question as JWST's launch neared, with many scientists arguing that Webb participated in discrimination against gay and lesbian NASA employees during his time as an administrator for the agency, and therefore should not have his name affixed to the high-profile observatory, according to Live Science sister site (opens in new tab). ![]() Webb, who oversaw the creation of the Apollo program in the 1960s, according to NASA (opens in new tab). ![]() The telescope is named after one of NASA's early administrators, James E. The James Webb Space Telescope, known as Webb (like "Hubble"), is operated primarily by NASA, which is providing the bulk of the funding, with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) as partners.
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