After a lengthy voyage, the NASA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) arrived at its destination this week. The Virtual Telescope Project (VTP) caught an image of it among the stars.
On Monday, the JWST successfully reached the second Sun-Earth Lagrange point (L2), which is around a million miles from Earth. During the historical occurrence, the VTP's "Elena" robotic telescope monitored its path and even recorded it in a picture.
VTP said the JWST could be seen amid the many stars in the sky in the image, taken with a 300-second exposure. The little dot in the image's center is denoted with a small arrow.
🛰️James Webb Space Telescope #Webb #NASAWebb #JWST has just reached the L2 point, from where it will explore the Universe! We captured it from Earth to celebrate this very important moment!
— Virtual Telescope (@VirtualTelescop) January 25, 2022
📌 more: https://t.co/2mWhsIKGwF pic.twitter.com/7HFp08nxcl
The photo depicts the most recent stage of the enormous project, which is a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency.
JWST Can Be Seen on Earth Despite Distance
The JWST would be seen from Earth in the "bowl" of the Big Dipper, according to Space.com, and may even be seen "if you know where to look." With a pair of binoculars, skywatchers may be able to get a glimpse of it.
The JWST, as the next-generation telescope, will take a closer look at the various stages of the universe's history. Because of its larger wavelength and superior sensitivity, NASA said JWST could view "far closer to the beginning of time" than its predecessor, the legendary Hubble Space Telescope. It can also provide a glimpse of the planetary systems currently forming.
KOUROU, FRENCH GUIANA - DECEMBER 25: Launch teams monitor the countdown to the launch of Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket carrying NASA's James Webb Space Telescope on December 25, 2021, in the Jupiter Center at the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana. The James Webb Space Telescope (sometimes called JWST or Webb) is a large infrared telescope with a 21.3 foot (6.5 meters) primary mirror. The observatory will study every phase of cosmic history from within our solar system to the most distant observable galaxies in the early universe.
Engineers will begin a three-month procedure to align the telescope optics "to virtually nanometer accuracy" as soon as possible. The first photographs from the JWST will be released in a few months.
In a statement released Monday, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said that the agency is one step closer to solving the universe's secrets.
About JWST
The telescope has 18 gold-coated mirrors that are 21 feet long and four inches thick. It causes light to bounce back into an infrared sensor. Its ultra-wide viewpoint allows it to see around a third of the sky at once.
It's approximately three times the size of the Hubble Space Telescope, which first launched in 1990 and has produced some of the most stunning photos of space.
According to Inverse, NASA plans to use the new telescope to learn more about the universe's beginnings. It might also reveal information about distant exoplanets that potentially harbor life. It should also aid academics in their understanding of Sagittarius A*. Scientists have yet to photograph what they believe to be a supermassive black hole at the galaxy's core.
On December 25, 2021, an Ariane 5 rocket launched from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana to launch the telescope. It took a month for the spacecraft to arrive at its final destination, the L2 Lagrange point between the Sun and the Earth.
The gravitational forces between the two are steady at this moment. It allows the telescope to be pointed away from the Sun for the duration of its operation, which protects the equipment. The telescope will also avoid being shaded by both the Earth and the Moon due to its location. Meanwhile, the Hubble Space Telescope rotates in and out every 90 minutes.
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