A month after its Christmas Day launch, the James Webb Space Telescope reached its final orbit, 1.5 million km away from Earth.
Once fully online, scientists hope that the images it sends to Earth will help answer some of the universe’s enduring mysteries.
“We’re one step closer to uncovering the mysteries of the universe. I can’t wait to see Webb’s first new views of the universe this summer!” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson in a statement.
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The James Webb project is a $10 billion international program led by NASA in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency. The telescope’s orbit offers it a wide view of the cosmos at any given moment.
Scientists selected the telescope’s orbit position so that the Sun, Earth, and Moon would always be on one side of space. This way, James Webb’s telescope optics and instruments are perpetually shaded, allowing them to be sufficiently cold for infrared sensitivity.
Now the telescope has reached its the desired orbit, engineers will spend the next three months aligning the telescope’s optics. More information concerning the telescope and its whereabouts can be found here.
