The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

James Webb telescope reaches target in space

2022-01-25T00:57:03.046Z


The James Webb space telescope, the most powerful to date, was on the road for a month, and now it has arrived at its destination. It will soon be possible to look far back into the past of the universe.


Enlarge image

A representation of the James Webb Space Telescope

Photo: HANDOUT/AFP

The James Webb Space Telescope has arrived in space at its destination 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.

That makes it more than four times as far away as the moon.

The telescope threw on its engines for five minutes on Monday and reached the so-called second Lagrange point (L2), as the US space agency Nasa announced.

"Webb, welcome home," said NASA CEO Bill Nelson.

“We're one step closer to discovering the mysteries of the universe.

I can't wait to see Webb's first new images of the universe this summer."

The James Webb Telescope is designed to explore the early days of the universe 13 billion years ago, just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.

Astronomers hope to draw conclusions about the formation of the first stars and galaxies.

The most powerful telescope to date far exceeds its predecessor Hubble in size and complexity.

It looks further into space than Hubble and therefore further back into the past.

Webb focuses on infrared radiation.

An Ariane 5 rocket launched the Webb telescope on Christmas Day from the Kourou Cosmodrome in French Guiana.

Named after a former director of the US Space Agency, the telescope was jointly developed by NASA, the European Space Agency ESA and the Canadian Space Agency CSA.

The Max Planck Institute for Astronomy, the University of Cologne and several German companies also took part.

cop/AFP

Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2022-01-25

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.