World's largest telescope reaches its destination - one million miles away!
- Published
- comments
The world's most powerful telescope has finally reached its final destination, one million miles away from Earth.
The James Webb space telescope launched on 25 December 2021 from French Guiana, travelling across our solar system at an average of 32,250 miles per day!
Its goal is to take pictures of the very first stars to light up the universe - thought to have formed between 100 and 200 millions years ago.
Scientists have described the telescope as a "time machine" that could unlock important clues about the origins of our universe.
Where is the James Webb telescope now?
Thirty days after it was launched, the James Webb telescope has arrived at the position in space where it will observe the Universe.
The Lagrange Point 2, as it's known, is a million miles (1.5 million km) from Earth.
The telescope was finally nudged into an orbit around this location thanks to a short, five-minute thruster burn.
But this is just one more victory in a long road for the James Webb telescope which will not be ready to take pictures for a few more months yet.
Scientists on Earth will now spend the coming months adjusting the telescope's instruments and position to make sure it is in the perfect condition to take pictures.
Key tasks include switching on the observatory's four instruments, and also focusing its mirrors - in particular, its 6.5m-wide segmented primary reflector.
"There's a pretty intensive effort to take all of those 18 segments from their current state and get them to act as one big mirror, and also to get the secondary mirror into its optimised condition," explained Charlie Atkinson, a chief engineer on the project.
WATCH: Â鶹ԼÅÄ science editor Rebecca Morelle explains how the James Webb Space Telescope will work
"We're one step closer to uncovering the mysteries of the universe. And I can't wait to see Webb's first new views of the universe this summer!" said Nasa administrator, Bill Nelson.
If all goes to plan, its hoped that the Webb telescope will also be used to look for signs of alien life!
Cameras, like our eyes, turn light waves into images.
Light waves travel incredibly fast - 186,282 miles per second in space!
But because the size of the universe is so large, it can still take a long time for light to travel across a great distance.
This means that very powerful cameras can sometimes photograph past events, because the light from those events has to travel such a long way it will reach the camera millions of years after the event took place.
Test your James Webb telescope knowledge
Already a fan? Why not test your knowledge of the James Webb space telescope?
Try this quiz and see how you get on. Let us know how you did in the comments below.
If you cannot see the quiz, click here.
- Published9 January 2022
- Published17 December 2019
- Published22 December 2021
