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Monday, May 30, 2011

Overview of James Webb Space Telescope


The James Webb Space Telescope is the next in the line of NASA's Great Observatories, a scientific successor to both the Hubble and Spitzer Space Telescopes. This space observatory will see the first galaxies to form in the universe, and explore how stars are born and give rise to planetary systems. It will study exoplanets, investigating their potential for life.

JWST is optimized to detect infrared light, using a segmeted mirror more than 6 m in diameter and operating a million miles away in the cold, dark environment of Earth's Lagrange 2 point. It will carry four science instruments covering wavelengths from 0.6 to 28 microns.

In the video talk linked above, Dr. Heidi B. Hammel (JWST Interdisciplinary Scientist) reviewed JWST's scientific objectives, its hardware and technology development, and the predicted system performance. She also provided an overview of the review of JWST that was commissioned by Congress, and discuss the current status of the project.

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