WHAT IS A JAMES WEBB TELESCOPE?

Webb, according to Nasa, is the successor to the Hubble Telescope, which will become the premier space observatory for astronomers worldwide.

 

As per Nasa, Webb will be the largest telescope ever placed in space; 100 times more powerful than Hubble. It will be so big that it has to fold origami-style to fit in the rocket and will unfold like a "transformer" in space. It will study every phase in the history of our universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own solar system.

 

Webb will orbit the sun, a million miles away from Earth at the second Lagrange point.

 

James Webb Telescope was formerly known as the "Next Generation Space Telescope" (NGST); it was renamed in September 2002 after a former Nasa administrator, James Webb.

 

The Webb Telescope 6.5 meter diameter primary mirror is made of 18 hexagonal segments and also a round 0.74 meter secondary mirror. Major innovations of the telescope are - lightweight mirrors, which are beryllium coated with gold, deployable sunshield, folding segmented mirror, improved detectors, cryogenic actuators, mirror control and micro-shutters.

 

The James Webb Space Telescope with unprecedented infrared sensitivity, will be able to peer back in time over 13.5 billion years to see the first galaxies born after the Big Bang.

 

The combination of high resolution and infrared-detecting instruments on Webb Space Telescope will reveal stars that are currently hidden even from the powerful Hubble Space Telescope. The wealth of additional star data will allow astronomers to investigate a range of questions, from star birth to star death to the universe’s elusive expansion rate. Webb will help astronomers to compare the faintest, earliest galaxies to today's grand spirals and ellipticals, helping us to understand how galaxies assemble over billions of years.