James Webb update

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has finally reached its orbit at Lagrange point 2. There it will stay in the shadow of Earth to take pictures. Now these won’t be ordinary pictures, while the Hubble Space Telescope has been taking photos in the visible light spectrum, the light we can see, the JWST will be taking photos in the ultraviolet spectrum. This will allow us to effectively see through any sort of cosmic clouds which have previously blocked our view. The photos will be taken in the ultraviolet, translated into black and white, and then colorized to give us some of the most incredible pictures we have ever seen. The telescope can’t take photos right away though, it will take about six months to cool (it needs to be -233 C to detect ultraviolet light) calibrate, and undergo incredible amounts of testing. When photos begin to be taken and released our understanding of our universe as we know it may very well be flipped on its head.

James Webb Space Telescope: How does it work and what will it see? - BBC  Science Focus Magazine
Photo credit: NASA

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