James Webb Space Telescope
Liftoff
December 25, 2020
Still Exploring
Mission Info
This giant spacecraft could cover a typical tennis court with its sunshield. Atop the sunshield is the largest primary mirror ever sent into space – some 6.5 meters (21 feet, 4 inches) across. Seeing the universe in infrared light, the Webb telescope is expected to become the premiere observatory of the decade, studying billions of years of the universe's history and reaching back nearly to the Big Bang.
It can reveal details of the formation of planetary systems like our own, and even sample (via the rainbow spectrum of captured light) the composition of exoplanet atmospheres.
Key Facts
Launch Vehicle
Ariane 5 ECA
Launch Site
Centre Spatial Guyanais, French Guiana
Largest telescope ever sent into space
Mission Images
Mission News
NASA, CSA, and FGS teamCountdown to Webbs first images
We're less than one week away from the July 12, 2022, release of the first science-quality images from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope
NASA, CSA, and FGS teamJWT First Deep Field
Named Webb’s First Deep Field, this image has produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe to date. Thousands of galaxies – including the faintest objects ever observed in the infrared – have appeared in Webb’s view for the first time.
James Webb Reveals Stunning Images
First collection of images released from James Webb Space Telescope
NASAWebb Alignment Complete
The three-month process of aligning the James Webb Space Telescope's instruments and mirrors is finally complete, according to a NASA statement released today (April 28). The agency shared sample images
NASAStar light, star bright - the first starlight images from Webb
The first published image taken by the James Webb Space Telescope shows an image mosaic of 18 randomly organized dots of starlight created over 25 hours beginning on Feb. 2, 2022, during an ongoing process to align the observatory's segmented mirror. Over the next month, the team will gradually adjust the mirror segments until the 18 images become a single star. The first scientific images are expected to start being released this summer.
