JAMES WEBB SPACE OBSERVATORY
The US space agency says the post-launch set-up of the new James Webb telescope has gone very well. "As smoothly as we could have hoped for."-BBC News
We shall soon enter a new era of astronomy if everything goes according to plan. The James Webb Space Observatory (JWST), the world’s most extensive, most costly, most complicated space telescope, has launched into orbit and is on its way to its final destination.
The James Webb Space Telescope, also referred to as Webb or JWST, is a massive space-based observatory tuned for infrared wavelengths to complement and expand the Hubble Space Telescope’s findings. It will cover a broader range of wavelengths and have much better sensitivity. Webb can now scan further back in time to locate the earliest galaxies that formed in the early Universe, as well as gaze within dust clouds where stars and planetary systems are developing today.
For the hundreds of scientists, engineers, managers, and support workers who worked to bring the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope to this point, the launch on Christmas Day 2021 was both exhilarating and scary. After all, JWST’s scientific potential is vast, and it can solve some of the universe’s most pressing problems.
The Mysterious Early Universe
Although the enigmatic JWST is
