World’s Most Powerful Telescope Reaches Major Milestone in Space

The James Webb Space Telescope unfolded its gold mirrors and is speeding away from Earth.

Monday, January 10, 2022 at 01:57 PM ET

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This artist’s conception of the James Webb Space Telescope in space shows all its major elements fully deployed. The telescope was folded to fit into its launch vehicle, and then was slowly unfolded over the course of two weeks after launch. [Illustration: NASA GSFC/CIL/Adriana Manrique Gutierrez]

Key Takeaways:

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has successfully completed its complex deployment sequence in space, including the unfolding of its iconic gold-coated mirrors.
JWST is now en route to its final destination, 1 million miles from Earth, to orbit the second Lagrange point (L2).
A collaborative mission by NASA, ESA, and the Canadian Space Agency, Webb will observe the most distant galaxies to uncover the mysteries of the early universe.
The successful deployment is celebrated as a historic and unprecedented engineering milestone, critical for the mission's future discoveries.

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The James Webb Space Telescope has successfully completed its deployment and is on its way to its final destination—1 million miles away from Earth.

Webb has been under close watch around the globe, as the world’s most powerful telescope unfolded itself in outer space this weekend. In a joint effort between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency, Webb will look into the most distant galaxies in the observable universe.