James Webb telescope, successor of Hubble, set to be most powerful observatory ever sent into space
James Webb Space Telescope, a revolutionary instrument designed to provide mankind with the first-ever glimpse into an infant universe as it existed when the earliest galaxies are believed to have been formed, will be launched on Saturday by Nasa.
The device, which the National Aeronautics and Space Administration hails as the “premiere space-science observatory of the next decade”, is set for launch on December 25, from the northeastern coast of South America, according to an official statement.
If all goes according to plan, the French-built Ariane 5 rocket will blast off from the European Space Agency (ESA)’s launch base in French Guiana at 1220 GMT (5:50pm Indian Standard Time) with the telescope bundled inside its cargo bay area.
After a 26-minute ride into space, the rocket will release the 14,000-pound instrument, which will then unfurl to nearly the size of a tennis court.
What is the James Webb Space Telescope?
Named after James Edwin Webb, the chief of the American space agency during most of the agency’s formative decade of the 1960s, the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is planned to succeed the Hubble Space Telescope as Nasa’s flagship astrophysics mission.
The new space telescope is about 100 times more sensitive than its predecessor, Hubble, and is expected to profoundly transform scientists’ understanding of the universe and our place in it.
With improved infrared resolution and sensitivity, the JWST will enable a broad range of investigations across the fields of astronomy and cosmology, including observing some of the most distant events and objects in the universe, such as the formation of the first galaxies, and detailed atmospheric characterisation of potentially habitable exoplanets.
The telescope will also help astronomers better study supermassive black holes at the centre of galaxies, and planets orbiting other stars in our galaxy. More specifically, astronomers will be able to study for the first time ever the “dark ages” of the universe, the history of which remains mostly unknown.
When is the launch?
The JWST is scheduled for lift-off on the back of the Ariane flight VA256 at 5:50pm IST on Saturday – Christmas Day – from a European-managed spaceport in South America’s French Guiana. The launch window will stretch for over half an hour to ensure that there are no last-minute errors or technical snags.
Nasa will run a live stream on its YouTube channel beginning at 4:30pm, and on its Twitter and Facebook accounts as well beginning at the same time. Moreover, the European Space Agency will also be running its own live stream in French and Spanish languages on its website.