James Webb Telescope: 10 Intriguing Facts

James Webb Telescope

JWST, initially the Next Generation Space Telescope, was renamed in 2002 to honor former NASA administrator James E. Webb.

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Launched on December 25, 2021, JWST took off aboard an Ariane 5 ECA rocket from the Centre Spatial Guyanais, ELA-3.

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With a cost of around $10 billion, JWST is one of the most expensive space missions ever undertaken.

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JWST's mirror, made of 18 hexagonal segments, has a total of 48 grams of gold for optimal infrared reflection.

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The telescope can transfer 57.2 gigabytes of data per day, vastly surpassing Hubble's 120 megabytes per day.

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JWST's solar array provides 2,000 watts of power, and the onboard propellant supports at least 10 years of operations.

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The observatory features four scientific instruments: NIRCam, NIRSpec, NIRISS, and MIRI, each with unique capabilities.

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Designed for a minimum of five years, JWST has a maximum mission lifetime of 10 years.

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JWST has captured a 'deep field' image of the galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, 4.6 billion light-years away.

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JWST has taken a direct image of an exoplanet, HIP 65426 b, and detected water vapor in the atmosphere of WASP-96 b.

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James Webb Telescope: Unveiling 1 Year Space Secrets And even more exciting Missions of Space.

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