James Webb Telescope
It is now set for December 25, but since I won't be here posting that day, I wanted to set a spot for us.
James Webb is the successor to Hubble, with missions to find the first galaxies formed in the universe and to peer through dusty clouds to see stars forming planetary systems.
Ultraviolet and visible light emitted by the very first luminous objects has been stretched, or "redshifted" by the continual expansion of the universe and arrives today as infrared light. Webb is designed to see this light with unprecedented resolution and sensitivity.
Using a technique called transmission spectroscopy, Webb will examine starlight filtered through planetary atmospheres to learn about their chemical compositions. It will observe exoplanets to determine if and where signatures of habitability may be present.
After launch, Webb will travel about a million miles from Earth and undergo six months of commissioning in space - unfolding its mirrors, calibrating its systems, and cooling down.
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