New Eyes on the Heavens

Insights from the James Webb Space Telescope

On Christmas Day, 2021, the gold-plated James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) rocketed into space. A month later, on January 24, 2022, it reached its targeted destination, a point in Earth’s orbit some 930,000 miles from Earth. That precise spot, the “L2 Lagrange point,” is where Earth’s gravitational pull on the JWST perfectly balances the Sun’s gravitational pull, allowing the instrument to remain in a stable, fixed position relative to Earth with minimal use of fuel.

For the first few months after its arrival, astronomers devoted full attention to testing and calibrating the jwst’s focus. One of many hopes for this instrument is to deepen and enhance the knowledge gained via the hubble space...