James Webb Space Telescope

James Webb Space TelescopeArtist's conception of the James Webb Space Telescope. The telescope was launched in 2021.
first image from James Webb Space Telescope: galaxy cluster SMACS 0723
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first image from James Webb Space Telescope: galaxy cluster SMACS 0723The first image from NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Known as Webb's First Deep Field, this image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723 is overflowing with detail, as thousands of galaxies—including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared—appeared in Webb's view for the first time. This slice of the universe covers a patch of sky approximately the size of a grain of sand held at arm's length by someone on the ground.
Southern Ring Nebula
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Southern Ring NebulaSouthern Ring Nebula as captured by the James Webb Space Telescope in the near-infrared (left) and the mid-infrared (right). The dimmer star at the center of this scene has been sending out rings of gas and dust for thousands of years in all directions. The Southern Ring Nebula is approximately 2,500 light-years away.
Stephan's Quintet
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Stephan's QuintetStephan's Quintet, a grouping of five galaxies captured by the James Webb Space Telescope. The leftmost galaxy, NGC 7320, is actually in the foreground at a distance of 40 million light-years from Earth, while the other four galaxies are 290 million light-years away.
Carina Nebula
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Carina NebulaThe Carina Nebula as observed by the James Webb Space Telescope. Called the Cosmic Cliffs, the region is actually the edge of a gigantic, gaseous cavity within NGC 3324, roughly 7,600 light-years away. The cavernous area has been carved from the nebula by the intense ultraviolet radiation and stellar winds from extremely massive, hot, young stars located in the center of the bubble, above the area shown in this image. The high-energy radiation from these stars is sculpting the nebula's wall by slowly eroding it away.

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), U.S.–European Space Agency–Canadian satellite observatory designed as the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) and launched by an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, on December 25, 2021. The JWST has a mirror 6.5 metres (21.3 feet) in diameter, seven times larger than that of the HST, and orbits the Sun in a Lissajous pattern around the second Lagrangian point, about 1.5 million km (930,000 miles) from Earth on the planet’s nightside. It was named after James Webb, the administrator of NASA during the Apollo program (1961–68).

The telescope primarily detects light in the infrared in order to observe sources such as the first galaxies and protostars that radiate at those wavelengths. Since infrared satellite observatories must be protected from thermal radiation, a sun shield about 150 square metres (1,600 square feet) in area protects the telescope. Since there is no rocket wide enough to hold the JWST in its deployed state, both the sun shield and the mirror were launched folded and have unfolded in space.

Erik Gregersen
Citation Information
Article Title: James Webb Space Telescope
Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica
Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
Date Published: 07 May 2024
URL: https://www.britannica.comhttps://www.britannica.com/topic/James-Webb-Space-Telescope
Access Date: November 24, 2024