Why the most powerful space telescope ever needs to be kept really, really cold
The James Webb Space Telescope will give a glimpse of the earliest galaxies formed after the Big Bang — but only if the telescope is kept frigid. That's why there's a tennis court-sized sunshield.
The James Webb Space Telescope is set to launch later this week. When it does, it will be the most powerful space telescope ever.
Armed with the telescope, scientists intend to peer back in time to the formation of the earliest galaxies in the universe, to study how our solar system evolved and to analyze the atmospheres of distant planets, searching for gases that might signal habitability.
"It's gonna be amazing and it's still a little mind-blowing to think about it," , NASA project scientist for operations of the telescope, told NPR. The light from these distant galaxies has been traveling to Earth for over 13 billion years, she
