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The mass of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is about half that of the Hubble Space Telescope. Webb has a 6.5 m (21 ft)-diameter gold -coated beryllium primary mirror made up of 18 separate hexagonal mirrors.
Dec 25, 2021 · Webb's Sunshield: The sunshield reduces the temperature between the hot and cold side of the spacecraft by almost 600 degrees Fahrenheit in the span of its 5 layer, 4.8m height - from approximately 185F (85C) on the hot side to approximately -388F (-233C) on the cold side.
The James Webb Space Telescope is peering into the past to unlock the mysteries of our universe. Learn more about the technical details of this ambitious mission.
- 5 years (10-year goal)
- Approximately 22 meters x 12 meters
- 6.5 meter diameter aperture
- It Is Very, Very Big.
- It Can See Through Dust Clouds.
- It Wears A "Hat" to Help Block Heat and Light from The Sun.
- It Uses Giant, Gold-Coated Mirrors to See The Universe.
- It Will Be Hunting For Signs of Life on Other Planets.
- What Is The James Webb Space Telescope Doing Right Now?
The Webb telescope is as tall as a 3-story building and as long as a tennis court! It is so big that it has to fold origami-style to fit inside the rocket to launch. The telescope will unfold, sunshield first, once in space. The James Webb Space Telescope is about the same size as a tennis court and about as tall as a 3-story building! Credit: NASA...
Infrared cameras can see through dust and smoke. Credit: NASA/IPAC/Pasadena Fire Dept. The James Webb Space Telescope sees the universe in light that is invisible to human eyes. This light is called infrared radiation, and we can feel it as heat. Firefighters use infrared cameras to see and rescue people through the smoke in a fire. The James Webb ...
This animation shows how the sunshield will unfold when the Webb telescope reaches its home in orbit. Credit: NASA The Webb telescope’s cameras are sensitive to heat from the Sun. Just like you might wear a hat or a visor to block the Sun from your eyes, Webb has a sunshield to protect its instruments and mirrors. The telescope’s sunshield is about...
Engineers inspecting the Webb telescope’s mirrors at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Credit: NASA/Chris Gunn Space telescopes “see” by using mirrors to collect and focus light from distant stars. (Check out our telescopes pageto learn more about how space telescopes work.) The bigger the mirror, the more details the telescope can see. It’s very...
Could life survive on this faraway planet? Astronomers study the light from stars and planets to see if they might have the ingredients for life. Animation credit: NASA/ESA/Dani Player (STScI), Music credit: Steve Combs Our solar system isn’t the only home for planets! Scientists have discovered thousands of planets orbiting stars other than our Su...
The James Webb Space Telescope launched on December 25, 2021. Want to stay up to date and learn more about NASA’s biggest and most powerful telescope? Check out this cool timeline to learn what the telescope is doing right now! Also, Find more facts, photos, videos and more at the James Webb Space Telescope Website!
Feb 18, 2016 · Beginning in 2001, concerns about the swelling cost of the telescope forced NASA to shrink the mirror from 8 meters to 6.5 meters, reducing the number of mirror segments from 36 to 18 and its light-collecting area from 50 square meters to 25. But review panels decided that Webb could still achieve its scientific goals.
A galaxy is a collection of stars, gas, dust, and dark matter bound together by gravity. The smallest galaxies may contain only a few hundred thousand stars, while the largest galaxies have thousands of billions of stars. Webb studies galaxies at all stages of development and ages of cosmic history.
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Webb Team. Thousands of skilled scientists, engineers and technicians from 14 countries (and more than 29 U.S. states, and Washington, D.C.) contributed to the design, build, test, integration, launch, commissioning and operations of Webb. It is a joint NASA/ESA/CSA mission.
