NASA has confirmed that the James Webb Space Telescope has already passed the Moon on its journey to the Lagrange point L2, 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.
The nearly $10 billion telescope is less than a third of the way to the second Lagrange point (L2), an area of gravity balanced between the Sun and Earth, where it will spend more than a decade exploring. the universe in infrared.
When the telescope reached the Moon, the NASAMoon Twitter account posted: 'We think we feel a breeze! Just kidding, of course, but good luck on the rest of your journey to L2. NASA also shared, from the NASAWebb Twitter account: 'Thank you @NASAMoon! We'll be sure to send you and all the wonderful people at @NASAEarth a postcard when we get to our destination.'
After months of delays, JWST finally launched on Christmas Day from the European Space Agency's spaceport in French Guiana, and is expected to reach L2 in less than a month. The space telescope is meant to complement its 30-year-old counterpart, Hubble, and is about 100 times more sensitive than the old observatory and will work alongside it for as long as Hubble remains operational – something expected until 2049.
The telescope was launched into space aboard an Ariane 5 rocket on Christmas Day. It took off from the European spaceport facility in French Guiana before flying into the sky over the Atlantic Ocean.
Webb marks the beginning of a new era of astronomy.
