James Webb Space Telescope : Look For Life On Newly Discovered Planets
After its first full calendar year of operation, astronomers are using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to look for life on thousands of newly discovered planets.
- JWST was built in collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency.
- It was launched in December 2021.
- It is the largest and most powerful space telescope to date.
- It orbits around a point in space called the L2 Lagrange point (a gravitationally stable location in space). It is approximately 1.5 million km beyond Earth’s orbit and is one of the five points in the orbital plane of the Earth-Sun system.
- It will focus on four main areas: the first light in the universe, the assembly of galaxies in the early universe, the birth of stars and protoplanetary systems, and planets (including the origins of life).
- Its instruments are designed to work primarily in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, with some capability in the visible range.
- It comprises the Optical Telescope Element (OTE), the Integrated Science Instrument Module (ISIM), the sunshield, and the spacecraft bus.
