A little wonder, every day

Webb orbits near L2

Наземне випробування розгортання сонцезахисного екрана «Вебба» / Ground test of Webb’s sunshield deployment; documentary test photograph, not an in-space photograph.

Наземне фото кріогенних випробувань сегментів дзеркала «Вебба» у 2010 році, NASA/MSFC / Ground photograph of Webb mirror-segment cryogenic testing in 2010, NASA/MSFC; not the fully assembled observatory at L2.

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Наземне випробування розгортання сонцезахисного екрана «Вебба» / Ground test of Webb’s sunshield deployment; documentary test photograph, not an in-space photograph.

Listen to fact0:00 / —

The James Webb Space Telescope follows a solar orbit near the Sun–Earth system’s second Lagrange point, L2, about 1.5 million kilometres from Earth. It does not sit motionless at that point or orbit Earth in the way Hubble does. This location helps keep the Sun, Earth and Moon on one side of its sunshield. Webb was not designed for routine astronaut servicing; NASA nevertheless does not describe every possible future robotic servicing mission as physically impossible.