In many respects, including its cosmic location, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will be more extreme than its renowned predecessor. The 10-billion-dollar sun Webb is far larger, more complicated, more powerful than Hubble, which has been examining the skies from Earth orbit for more than three decades.
Lagrange points are gravitationally stable regions where spacecraft may “park” and retain their relative position without burning a lot of fuel. Webb, on the other hand, isn’t travelling to L2 to save propellants. It’s going to keep chilly there.
Webb is designed to observe the universe using infrared (IR) light, which has long wavelengths that we perceive as heat. (Hubble, on the other hand, mostly observes visible and ultraviolet wavelengths.) Webb’s scientific instruments must be very cold in order to pick up the slightest IR emissions.
As a result, the observatory has a five-layer sunshield that, when completely unfolded, will be approximately the size of a tennis court. But the question arises now, how far is the James Webb Space Telescope from Earth? So let’s explore the topic below.
Related: NASA’s Webb Telescope Stuns With Deepest Infrared Image of Universe Yet
What is L2?
Philip Lagrange was a French mathematician who solved the three-body problem in the 18th century. Is there any stable arrangement in which three bodies may circle each other while remaining in the same relative position? It turns out that this issue has five solutions, which are known as the five Lagrange points after their discoverer.
The gravitational attraction of two massive masses exactly equals the centripetal force necessary for a tiny item to travel with them at Lagrange points. The points L1, L2, and L3 are all in line with each other, while L4 and L5 are equilateral triangle points.
Read: Where is the James Webb Space Telescope now?
James Webb Space telescope distance from Earth
For the James Webb Space Telescope, that point is around 1 million miles (1,500,000 kilometers) from Earth, in the opposite direction from the sun. Hubble is 550 kilometers (340 miles) above Earth’s surface, while the Moon is around 400,000 kilometers (250,000 miles) away.
Why is the James Webb telescope orbiting the sun?
The Webb space telescope will orbit the sun near L2, or Lagrange points 2, a gravitationally stable solar orbit around 1 million miles from Earth on the other side of our planet from the sun. There is no spaceship capable of transporting astronauts to such a remote location and safely returning them.
Related: How can the James Webb Telescope see back in time?
Why does the Direction of the Earth and Sun Matter?
Webb is especially interested in infrared light, which may be perceived as heat. The telescope must be insulated from any bright, hot sources since it will be viewing the very weak infrared emissions of very distant objects.
This applies to the satellite as well! Not only does the sunshield protect the delicate mirrors and equipment from the Sun and Earth/Moon, but it also protects the spacecraft bus.
The telescope will be functioning at a temperature of around 225 degrees below zero Celsius (minus 370 Fahrenheit). The temperature differential between the hot and cold sides of the telescope is enormous; on the hot side, you could practically boil water, while on the cold side, nitrogen would freeze!
The Sun, Earth, and Moon must all be in the same direction for the sunshield to be effective against the light and heat of the Sun, Earth, and Moon.
Related: Why is the James Webb telescope better than Hubble?
Revolving in a orbit around the Sun
The James Webb Space Telescope is prepared to go to great lengths to solve numerous cosmic riddles. Webb, the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, offers a number of advantages over the predecessor, including size, robustness, and most significantly, Orbit.
Webb’s orbit has been designed 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth surface by the telescope’s creators. NASA, ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA), for a very practical purpose permits the enormous sunshield on the satellite to protect the telescope from the Sun’s Heat and radiations and also from Earth’s and Moon light.
Bottom line: The James Webb Space Telescope will be established on December 25 from French Guiana’s Guiana Space Centre. For more than 20 years, scientists from the United States, Canada, and Europe have collaborated to create it. The lengthy $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to launch into deep space from a launching pad in France, on South America’s northeastern shoulder.
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