James Webb Space Telescope

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About the telescope-

• The $10 billion telescope is  a space telescope being jointly developed by the European Space Agency (ESA), Nasa and the Canadian Space Agency.
• The biggest telescope set to observe the universe will be launched onboard the powerful Ariane-5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana.
• Once operational, Webb will solve mysteries in our solar system, look beyond distant worlds around other stars, and probe the mysterious structures and origins of our universe and our place in it.
• It is planned to succeed the Hubble Space Telescope as NASA’s flagship astrophysics mission.
• Webb has two primary scientific missions, which together will account for more than 50 percent of its observation time. 
  • First, explore the early phases of cosmic history, looking back in time to only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang. Astronomers want to see how the very first stars and galaxies formed, and how they evolve over time.
  • Its second major goal is the discovery of exoplanets, meaning planets outside the solar system. It will also investigate the potential for life on those worlds by studying their atmospheres.  
• It will provide improved infrared resolution and sensitivity over Hubble.
• Unlike Hubble, the current premier space telescope that revolves around the planet, Webb will orbit the Sun. 
• It will remain directly behind Earth, from the point of view of the Sun, allowing it to remain on our planet’s night side.
• The telescope’s centerpiece is its enormous primary mirror, a concave structure 21.5 feet (6.5 meters) wide and made up of 18 smaller hexagonal mirrors. 
• They’re made from beryllium coated with gold, optimized for reflecting infrared light from the far reaches of the universe. 
• The observatory also has four scientific instruments, which together fulfill two main purposes: imaging cosmic objects, and spectroscopy -breaking down light into separate wavelengths to study the physical and chemical properties of cosmic matter.
• It will be deployed at the second Lagrange point (L2) orbiting the sun roughly 15,00,000 kilometers away from Earth. 
• It will finally reach its intended orbit, the Lagrange-2 point, a month after it leaves the planet.

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