Content for James Webb Telescope

The Webb Telescope Completes Alignment Phase

“It is official, alignment of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is now complete. The alignment of the telescope across all of Webb’s instruments can be seen in a series of images that captures the observatory’s full field …

Webb Telescope’s Coldest Instrument Reaches Operating Temperature

“With help from a cryocooler, the Mid-Infrared Instrument has dropped down to just a few degrees above the lowest temperature matter can reach and is ready for calibration. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will see the first galaxies to …

Photons Received: Webb Sees Its First Star – 18 Times

“The James Webb Space Telescope is nearing completion of the first phase of the months-long process of aligning the observatory’s primary mirror using the Near Infrared Camera (NIRCam) instrument. The team’s challenge was twofold: confirm that NIRCam was …

Following Webb’s Arrival at L2, Telescope Commissioning Set to Begin

“Following Webb’s arrival at its orbital destination around Lagrange Point 2 (L2) on Jan. 24, the mission operations team began working its way through a critical series of steps: powering on all the science instruments, turning off heaters to …

Orbital Insertion Burn a Success, Webb Arrives at L2

“Today, at 2 p.m. EST, Webb fired its onboard thrusters for nearly five minutes (297 seconds) to complete the final postlaunch course correction to Webb’s trajectory. This mid-course correction burn inserted Webb toward its final orbit around the …

NASA’s Webb Telescope Reaches Major Milestone as Mirror Unfolds

“NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope team fully deployed its 21-foot, gold-coated primary mirror, successfully completing the final stage of all major spacecraft deployments to prepare for science operations. A joint effort with the European Space Agency (ESA) and Canadian …

Sunshield Successfully Deploys on NASA’s Next Flagship Telescope

“The James Webb Space Telescope team has fully deployed the spacecraft’s 70-foot sunshield, a key milestone in preparing it for science operations. The sunshield – about the size of a tennis court at full size – was folded to fit inside …

NASA Says Webb’s Excess Fuel Likely to Extend its Lifetime Expectations

“After a successful launch of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Dec. 25, and completion of two mid-course correction maneuvers, the Webb team has analyzed its initial trajectory and determined the observatory should have enough propellant to allow support of …

NASA’s Webb Telescope Launches to See First Galaxies, Distant Worlds

“NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope launched at 7:20 a.m. EST Saturday on an Ariane 5 rocket from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, South America. A joint effort with ESA (European Space Agency) and the Canadian Space …