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The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a space telescope designed to conduct infrared astronomy.

It is the largest telescope in space, and is equipped with high-resolution and high-sensitivity instruments, allowing it to view objects too old, distant, or faint for the Hubble Space Telescope. Despite Webb's mirror diameter being 2.7 times larger than that of the Hubble Space Telescope, it produces images of comparable resolution because it observes in the infrared spectrum, which has longer wavelengths than the Hubble's visible spectrum. The Webb was launched on 25 December 2021 on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana. In January 2022, it arrived at its destination, a solar orbit near the Sun–Earth L2 Lagrange point, about 1.5 million kilometers (930,000 mi) from Earth. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) led Webb's design and development and partnered with two central agencies: the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland managed telescope development, while the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore on the Homewood Campus of Johns Hopkins University operates Webb. Unlike Hubble, which observes in the near ultraviolet, visible, and near infrared spectra (0.1–2.5 μm), Webb observes a lower frequency range, from long-wavelength visible light (red) through mid-infrared (0.6–28.5 μm). The telescope must be kept extremely cold, below 50 K (−223 °C; −370 °F), so that the infrared radiation emitted by the telescope itself does not interfere with the collected light. Initial designs for the telescope, then named the Next Generation Space Telescope, began in 1996.

The mass of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is about half that of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Webb operates in a halo orbit, circling a point in space known as the Sun–Earth L2 Lagrange point, approximately 1,500,000 km (930,000 mi) beyond Earth's orbit around the Sun.

In the United States, the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (later called the Spitzer Space Telescope) was planned while the Space Shuttle was in development, and the potential for infrared astronomy was acknowledged at that time.

In addition to recommendations to extend the HST mission to 2005 and to develop technologies for finding planets around other stars, NASA embraced the chief recommendation of HST & Beyond for a large, cold space telescope (radiatively cooled far below 0 °C), and began the planning process for the future Webb telescope.

While similar issues had affected other major NASA projects such as the Hubble telescope, some scientists expressed concerns about growing costs and schedule delays for the Webb telescope, worrying that its budget might be competing with those of other space science programs.

Webb is the formal successor to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and since its primary emphasis is on infrared astronomy, it is also a successor to the Spitzer Space Telescope.

The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), in Baltimore, Maryland, on the Homewood Campus of Johns Hopkins University, was selected in 2003 as the Science and Operations Center (S&OC) for Webb with an initial budget of US$162.2 million intended to support operations through the first year after launch.

LAUNCH (005:07; 25 Dec 2021) ⇒ SEPARATION (003:14; 25 Dec 2021) (mirror) ⇒ James Webb Space Telescope: Sunshield Deployment – Mission Control Live SUNSHIELD (152:45; 4 Jan 2022) ⇒ James Webb Space Telescope: Secondary Mirror Deployment – Mission Control Live SECONDARY MIRROR (087:15; 5 Jan 2022) ⇒ James Webb Space Telescope: Primary Mirror Deployment – Mission Control Live PRIMARY MIRROR (242:29; 8 Jan 2022) ⇒ News Update on James Webb Space Telescope's Full Deployment FINAL DEPLOYMENT (085:15; 8 Jan 2022) ⇒ Media Briefing: What's Next for the James Webb Space Telescope ARRIVAL AT L2 (077:14; 24 Jan 2022) ⇒ JAMES WEBB TELESCOPE First Photos, Data & Calibrations Explained TESTINGS & CALIBRATIONS ⇒ The First Thing That James Webb Will See FIRST LIGHT

Quick Facts

• Media Briefing: What's Next for the James Webb Space Telescope ARRIVAL AT L2 (077:14; 24 Jan 2022) ⇒ JAMES WEBB TELESCOPE First Photos, Data & Calibrations Explained TESTINGS & CALIBRATIONS ⇒ The First Thing That James Webb Will See FIRST LIGHT
• The mass of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is about half that of the Hubble Space Telescope.
• The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland managed telescope development, while the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore on the Homewood Campus of Johns Hopkins University operates Webb.
• It is the largest telescope in space, and is equipped with high-resolution and high-sensitivity instruments, allowing it to view objects too old, distant, or faint for the Hubble Space Telescope.
• In the United States, the Space Infrared Telescope Facility (later called the Spitzer Space Telescope) was planned while the Space Shuttle was in development, and the potential for infrared astronomy was acknowledged at that time.

Source material: Wikipedia - "James Webb Space Telescope". Adapted and summarized for DiscoverScroll. Original contributors are credited through the linked Wikipedia article. Read original on Wikipedia. CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes were made from the original.