The James Webb Space Telescope bloomed one last time on Earth
Chris Davies - May 11, 2021, 2:13pm CDT
Like a huge, technological flower, the James Webb Space Telescope has fully opened its vast mirror for the final time while still Earthbound, with the hexagonal array of precisely configured reflectors blooming for one last test before the instrument’s launch later in 2021. Set to supplant Hubble as NASA, the ESA, and the CSA’s preeminent eye-in-the-sky, Webb is intended to give scientists an unprecedented infrared view of the universe.
After it launches, the space telescope is designed to position itself in a halo orbit at the so-called second Lagrange point (L2) of the Earth-Sun system. 930,000 miles from Earth, and directly opposite to the Sun, it’ll be the perfect location to see deep into nearby galaxies and observe much older stars than Hubble or the Spitzer Space Telescope can.