One Million Miles Away, the James Webb Telescope

The James Webb Telescope, arguably the most amazing telescope that NASA has created has interested me very recently, as the telescope is one million miles away from earth and has a solar shield.

The James Webb telescope is named after James E. Webb, who ran the space agency from February 1961 to October 1968 and had the vision to enhance scientists' roles in the space agency as a whole. Originally, the telescope was going to be named "Next Generation Space Telescope", but was renamed in 2002 due to the incredible impact that Webb had on the space agency.

What is so fascinating about this telescope is the distance that it will go away from Earth.

The telescope is orbiting 1.5 million kilometers away from the earth, while the Hubble telescope is only a mere 570 kilometers away. It is incredible to see the progression of the James E. Webb Telescope and the success that it has already achieved by making it so far into orbit.

Many people are wondering about the sun shield that the Webb telescope is equipped with. This is because the infrared cameras aboard the telescope must be kept cold, and as we know, the sun is excruciatingly hot and can damage these cameras, making the Webb telescope useless. So while the sun shield may seem a little funny, it is essential to the continued success of the telescope.

The goal of the telescope is to extend the discoveries of the Hubble and cover them with infrared cameras and longer wavelengths with greatly improved sensitivities which will help scientists and astronomers much more.

Even though the Webb Telescope was launched on December 25th of 2021, it experiences great successes every day and blows the minds of millions of people. We are all rooting for you, Webb! Let's see what brilliant things this mighty telescope can do.

References:

About Webb/NASA. (n.d.). National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved January

25, 2022, from https://webb.nasa.gov/content/about/index.html

James Webb Space Telescope. (n.d.). National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Retrieved January 25, 2022, from https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/missions/james-webb-

space-telescope/in-depth/

Orbit - Webb/NASA. (n.d.). National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Retrieved

January 25, 2022, from https://webb.nasa.gov/content/about/orbit.html

Sunshield Membrane Coatings. (n.d.). National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Retrieved January 25, 2022, from

https://webb.nasa.gov/content/about/innovations/coating.html#

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