The James Webb Space Telescope

The James Webb Space Telescope Today’s Video of the Day from NASA Goddard introduces the James Webb Space Telescope, which will be the largest and most powerful telescope ever sent into space.

Named after NASA’s second administrator, the massive telescope is three stories high and the size of a tennis court. The instrument is so large that it will have to be folded to fit into the rocket that will carry it to space after being launched in French Guiana.

The telescope has been designed to observe infrared light with such extraordinary sensitivity that it will be able to see the first galaxies born after the Big Bang over 13.5 billion years ago. James Edwin Webb was anAmerican government official who served as the second appointed administrator of NASA from February 14, 1961, to October 7, 1968

The international Webb mission was funded in part by the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. Scientists all over the world will have access to the Webb telescope, which is 100 times more powerful than the Hubble Space Telescope. James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a telescope that will be put into space. It is planned to be launched in 2021. The James Webb Space Telescope will not be in orbit around the Earth, like the Hubble Space Telescope is – it will actually orbit the Sun, 1.5 million kilometers (1 million miles) away from the Earth at what is called the second Lagrange point or L2. 

The James Webb Space Telescope is the planned successor to the Hubble Telescope. Costs for the project have already increased by 95% and the launch date has been delayed by more than 6.5 years. Technical issues with certain spacecraft components in 2019 have made it unfeasible for the project to launch by its goal of November 2020.

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By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer

Video Credit: NASA Goddard