James Webb Telescope Coming Soon To L2, NASA Shows Live!

The Webb telescope traveled nearly 1 million miles through space. (photo: doc. NASA)

JAKARTA - The James Webb Space Telescope belonging to NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) will soon arrive at its final destination, Lagrange Point (L2) which orbits the Sun.

The largest of these telescopes was launched last year and has made a series of mirrors and other adjustments to its body, to maximize the operation of the telescope.

L2 is the place where the gravity of the Sun and Earth interact so that small objects such as spacecraft will stay where they are when moving with them. There are five of these Lagrange points, called L1 through L5, at different locations relative to the Sun and Earth. But not all of them are suitable for use as orbits.

After launching on December 25, 2021, the Webb Telescope will have to travel nearly 1 million miles through space to reach its final orbit around the Sun.

The telescope will be in the correct position so that half of the telescope protected by the Sunshield will always point toward the Sun, and requires only minimal power to keep it in orbit.

To reach that orbit, the Webb Telescope would need to perform an insertion maneuver, firing its thrusters to move it into the correct position.

"The ground team plans to fire off the Webb booster at 2 p.m. Monday, January 24 to put the space telescope into orbit around the Sun at the second Lagrange point, or L2, its intended destination, nearly 1 million miles from Earth", NASA said on its website on Monday, January 24.

"This midway correction burn has been long planned for approximately 29 days after launch. This week, the mission operations team selected a target date and time for burning. Engineers also completed remotely removing the Webb Telescope mirror segment from its launch position to begin the process. optical alignment of the telescope for months."

To let the public know more about the Webb Telescope's latest achievements and the science it will showcase, NASA will be holding a live broadcast and Science Live press conference.

The Science Live program was titled "What's Next for the James Webb Space Telescope?" and viewers can submit questions for scientists and engineers from the Webb Telescope project to answer. After that, a press conference with engineers and managers for the Webb Telescope will discuss the insertion and other details about the telescope.

The Science Live event will be broadcast at 3 PM ET on Monday, January 24, or Indonesia time 03.00 WIB on Tuesday, January 25, followed by a press conference at 4 PM ET.

Space enthusiasts can watch together by visiting NASA's website or the space agency's official YouTube.