insane-curiosity 2 years ago
astronomy science technology #Space and Time

Save the Date! The James Webb Telescope is About to Launch

This is pretty much what the James Webb telescope is offering us: the chance to see such pictures for the whole universe. Have you ever heard about it? It will be our best ever space telescope. And now, we have a launch date: December 18, 2021.

The James Webb Space Telescope, also called Webb or JWST, is a large, space-based observatory, optimized for infrared wavelengths, which will complement and extend the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope. 


James Webb and Hubble are pretty different telescopes. 

Webb will primarily look at the Universe in the infrared, while Hubble studies it primarily at optical and ultraviolet wavelengths.


Webb also has a much bigger mirror than Hubble. This larger light-collecting area means that Webb can peer farther back into time than Hubble is capable of doing. Hubble is in a very close orbit around the earth, while Webb will be 1.5 million kilometres away at the second Lagrange point. 


At its peak, as many as 2,000 scientists and technicians were working on Webb, with a total of about 10,000 people involved in its construction over the decades. 


It will have longer wavelength coverage and greatly improved sensitivity.

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