NASAJames Webb Space Telescope - 2021-130A
James Webb Space Telescope
The largest, most powerful space telescope ever built
PHASE 01
Launch (Ariane 5)
Dec 25, 2021 ✓
PHASE 02
Sunshield deployment
Jan 4, 2022 ✓
PHASE 03
Mirror alignment
Mar 2022 ✓
PHASE 04
First images released
Jul 12, 2022 ✓
PHASE 05 - ACTIVE
Nominal science ops
2022-present
- Telemetry
James Webb Space Telescope at a glance.
Distance
1.5Mkm
Mirror
6.5m
Cycle
5
Status
Active
- Status
Seeing the universe's first light.
JWST launched on Christmas Day 2021 atop an Ariane 5 rocket and reached the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point a month later. Its 6.5-meter segmented mirror - the largest ever flown - operates in the infrared, peering further back in cosmic time than any previous telescope.
Discoveries include some of the earliest galaxies ever observed and detailed atmospheric analysis of dozens of exoplanets.
- Sources