The James Webb Space Telescope has reached its final orbit, 1.5 million km from Earth

About a month after its launch, the James Webb Space Telescope has reached its final orbit. NASA, which is currently located 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, has confirmed that it will be remarkably able to observe the first galaxies in the universe. It activated its thrusters around 8 p.m. to reach Lagrange Point 2, an ideal point for observing the universe. “Welcome home, Web!”, exclaimed the head of the US space agency, Bill Nelson, in a press release. “We are one step closer to solving the mysteries of the universe. I can’t wait to see the first new images of the universe from [le télescope] Web this summer! “, he added.

In this carefully chosen orbit, the Earth, Sun, and Moon will be on the opposite side of the sunvisor, ensuring that they operate in the dark and in very cold weather essential to the study. The first cosmic radiation via infrared sensors.

This is the third time the telescope has operated its thrusters in this way since it was launched aboard an Ariane 5 rocket on December 25. In fact, the large thrust provided by the missile was deliberately minimized to prevent the missile from overshooting its target, with no real hope of returning, and it still had to, through small successive thrusts, put itself out there on its own.