About a month after its launch, the James Webb Space Telescope has reached its final orbit, which is 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, where it will be able to observe the first galaxies that formed in the universe, according to what the US space agency “NASA” announced.
The telescope started its engines around 7 p.m. GMT Monday before reaching Lagrange 2, or L2, the ideal location for observing the universe.
In a statement, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson welcomed the telescope’s reach, saying, “Welcome home, Web!”
“We are one step closer to discovering the secrets of the universe. I look forward to seeing the first new images of the universe that the Webb (the telescope) will take this summer!”
In this carefully chosen orbit, the Earth, the Sun and the Moon will all be located on the other side of the telescope’s thermal shields, which will ensure its work in the dark and harsh cold, which are necessary conditions for studying the universe’s first radiation through its infrared sensors.
This is the third time the telescope has turned on its engines since it was launched aboard an Ariane 5 rocket on December 25.
The thrust provided by the rocket was intentionally reduced to avoid the telescope from passing its target and not being able to return to Earth, and through small successive thrusts, it would be able to be stationed alone in its place in space.
Keith Parrish, one of those responsible for the project, believes that James Webb’s mission could extend over twenty years. One currently unlikely possibility is a future mission to fuel the telescope.
The James Webb telescope, which cost NASA $10 billion, is one of the most expensive practical instruments ever built, compared to its predecessor, the Hubble telescope or the Large Hadron Collider of the European Organization for Nuclear Research.
While Hubble was previously placed in Earth orbit, James Webb will orbit in a region of space known as Lagrange 2, where the gravitational forces of the Earth and the sun will be in balance with the centrifugal force of the telescope, which will provide a stable path in which less fuel is consumed. .
The new telescope will not be exactly at the L2 point, but it will swing around it in a “Halo” orbit at a distance similar to that between Earth and the Moon, and each revolution will take six months.
Other space missions were sent to L2, such as the European Space Agency’s “Herschel” space telescope, and a NASA satellite whose mission was to study the Big Bang.
The telescope’s location will allow it to remain in constant contact with Earth via the Deep Space Network, a network of three large antennas located in Australia, Spain and California.
In early January, NASA succeeded in completing the detection of the huge telescope mirror, which will enable it to capture the radiation emitted by the first stars and galaxies that formed more than 13.4 billion years ago, less than 400 million years after the Big Bang.
As the universe expands, these radiations always travel more distances to reach the observer in the form of infrared radiation. Like the sound of an object fading away as it moves away, the wave of light expands and travels from the apparent frequency to the naked eye and then to infrared radiation.
Unlike Hubble, Webb is equipped to pick up its infrared signals, which will allow it to see not only ancient objects, but also interstellar dust clouds that absorb the latter’s light and hide it from Hubble.
James Webb must make an important step in exploring exoplanets orbiting stars other than the Sun, to determine their origin, evolution and habitability.
The next step involves cooling these scientific instruments before examining them thoroughly. The first telescope images are expected in June or July.