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Exploring the universe with the Webb Telescope
NASA engineer Ernie Wright looks on as the first six flight ready Webb Space Telescope's primary mirror segments are prepped to begin final cryogenic testing at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. This represents the first six of 18 segments that will form NASA's Webb Space Telescope’s primary mirror for space observations. Engineers began final round-the-clock cryogenic testing to confirm that the mirrors will respond as expected to the extreme temperatures of space prior to integration into the telescope's permanent housing structure. Image Credit: NASA/MSFC/David Higginbotham - https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasawebbtelescope/5621574713/in/album-72157629134274763/
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Hands-on at the exhibit
- Pop into a photobooth for an infra-red selfie that you can share
- Hunt for infra-red sources hidden around the exhibit, using a mobile camera
- Explore the spacecraft and British-led instrument, with our interactive model
Find out more
Astronomers around the world are eagerly awaiting the launch of a huge new space telescope.
In 2021 the Webb Telescope will be blasted 1.5 million kilometres into space, beyond Earth’s orbit, to become the largest and most advanced observatory ever launched. At this exhibit you can get to grips with its cutting-edge hardware and see how the Webb Telescope will provide a giant leap in our understanding of the universe.
The Webb Telescope is more advanced and more than twice the size of the iconic Hubble telescope. It will allow astronomers to observe objects from our own solar system, to some of the most distant in the Universe that formed shortly after the big bang. By detecting infra-red wavelengths, the Webb Telescope will help us understand how planets, stars, and galaxies form and evolve, and may even provide the first evidence for habitable planets outside the solar system.
The Webb Telescope is a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, who are partnering to take space observation to new frontiers.
Find out more about the Webb Telescope from the European Space Agency, NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute.
Presented by: University of Sussex, The United Kingdom Astronomy Technology Centre, University of Edinburgh, University College London, European Space Agency, University of Leicester, University of Oxford, University of Cambridge, Durham University and Queen's University Belfast.
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