Last month on December 25, 2021, we received a gift from NASA - a successful launch of the James Webb Space Telescope!
This telescope is set to be the natural replacement to the Hubble Space Telescope, and combine everything we have learned these past decades in terms of astrophotography, picture quality, and rocket engineering.
Named after NASA's second administrator, James Webb (who served from 1961-1968), The Telescope (sometimes called JWST or Webb) is an orbiting infrared observatory that will complement and extend the discoveries of the Hubble, with longer wavelength coverage and greatly improved sensitivity.
The longer wavelengths enable Webb to look much closer to the beginning of time and to hunt for the unobserved formation of the first galaxies, as well as to look inside dust clouds where stars and planetary systems are forming today.
If you'd like to learn more about this fantastic feat of engineering, visit the official website here:
And as always, keep looking up!