James Webb Space Telescope

• NASA is set to launch the large infrared James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) touted as the “premier observatory” of the coming decade later this year.
• JWST is one of the grand scientific projects of the 21st Century and will ride to orbit on 18 December.

James Webb Space Telescope:

• The James Webb Space Telescope is the largest, most powerful space telescope ever built.
• It will allow scientists to look at what our universe was like about 200 million years after the Big Bang.
• The telescope will be able to capture images of some of the first galaxies ever formed.
• It will also be able to observe objects in our solar system from Mars outward, look inside dust clouds to see where new stars and planets are forming and examine the atmospheres of planets orbiting other stars.

About JSWT:

• JWST is a joint venture between the US (Nasa), European (Esa) and Canadian space agencies (CSA).
• It is an orbiting infrared observatory that will complement and extend the discoveries of the Hubble Space Telescope, with longer wavelength coverage and greatly improved sensitivity.
• Webb was formerly known as the “Next Generation Space Telescope” (NGST) and it was renamed in 2002 after a former NASA administrator, James Webb.
• It will be a large infrared telescope with an approximately 6.5 meter primary mirror.