James Webb Telescope arrives at final destination, where it will be in orbit

The James Webb Super Telescope, which should revolutionize the scientific understanding of the origin of the Universe, arrived today (24) at its final geostationary destination. The area, called Lagrange 2 (L2), is one of five areas in the Milky Way where the gravitational influence of the Sun and Earth balance in centripetal force, which makes orbiting the equipment viable. The location also allows for continuous communication between the telescope’s base of operation and the James Webb’s transmit antennas.

James Webb will begin transmitting scientific observations after the total completion of the commissioning process, estimated at six months. During this time, the equipment will open the mirrors and then adjust to the expected operating temperature: -380 degrees farenheit, or around -228 degrees Celsius – considered cryogenic temperature. After full aperture and temperature adjustments, James Webb will begin optical alignment of the 18 mirrors. For correct operation, the alignment must be accurate to a few nanometers, or about 1/10,000 of a human hair.

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The James Webb is considered the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990. Both were made to see what is called Deep Space. The difference is that James Webb is able to see phenomena at different frequencies of the light spectrum.

NASA will have a live chat with engineers and scientists involved in the James Webb project during the day. They will discuss the next steps of the project, in addition to revealing details and curiosities about the development of the equipment, which has an estimated cost of US$ 11 billion.