Webb Space Telescope
or James Webb Space
Telescope (JWST), is an infrared space telescope, the
largest in space at its launch in Dec., 2021. Built from 1999 to 2016 at a
cost of $10 billion, it was named for Jame E. Webb, a former NASA
administrator (Feb., 1961–Oct., 1968). It will study every phase in the
history of the Universe, from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang,
to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like
Earth. JWST design and constrution was led by NASA who partnered with the
European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The
telescope has a primary mirror with a diameter of 21 ft/6.5 m consisting of
eighteen hexagonal, gold-plated beryllium segments, with light collection
six times the Hubble Space Telescope. The JWST's four instruments, mixing
cameras and spectrometers, permit obesrvations of objects more
distant—and far older and fainter—than the Hubble, allowing for
investigations of the earliest states of our universe. The sensitivity of
the instruments package require the Webb to be kept in extreme cold and the
telescope is equipped with a five-layer sun shield to attenuate heat from
the sun.
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