The James Webb telescope has reached its final orbit, NASA said on Monday. “Welcome home,” said Bill Nelson, head of the agency, on Twitter.
NASA said on Monday that the James Webb telescope has reached its final orbit, which is 1.5 million kilometers from the earth. In addition, the machine successfully activated the jet engines for five minutes to reach the Lagrange 2 point, optimal for space observation.
“Welcome home,” NASA CEO Bill Nelson wrote on Twitter.
“We’re one step closer to discovering the secrets of the universe. And I’m looking forward to seeing Webb’s first new look at the universe this summer!” said Nelson.
James Webb Space Telescope
On January 8, NASA announced that the telescope had successfully completed unfolding its elements, and the final step was to unfold the gold-plated 6.5-meter main mirror.
Back then, the Agency predicted that the first images from the telescope would be available in about three weeks, but the first full image of one star would have to wait until March. Calibration of the observatory’s instruments to the state of full readiness will take until May.
The mirror of the James Webb telescopePAP / Reuters / Adam Ziemienowicz
Purpose of the mission
The Webb telescope is the fruit of nearly three decades of research and a $ 10 billion investment by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. The machine is a more advanced and powerful successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Astronomers hope that thanks to the new telescope and its infrared observation capacity, it will be possible, among other things, to study the atmosphere of planets outside the solar system for signs of life and spot the first stars and galaxies formed around 100 million years after the Big Bang.
James Webb’s TelescopePAP / Reuters / Adam Ziemienowicz
Main photo source: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center