On Dec 25, 2021, a new, exciting age of space science started asNASA launched(发射) the James Webb Space Telescope. "Webb willchange our understanding of space as we know it," said NASA.
According to NASA, Webb is the world's largest and strongesttelescope. The old Hubble Space Telescope mostly sees what wesee-visible (可见的) light. But Webb sees infrared (红外的) light,which the human eye can't see. That means Webb can see through dust in the universe and make newdiscoveries by examining stars inside dust clouds. It will look at the first light after the Big Bangcreated our universe, as well as how young stars grow.
The telescope will also take a closer look at what the atmosphere (大气层) of some other planets is made of. It can give scientists clues (线索) of possible life forms.
Webb "sees" by using mirrors to collect light from the universe. The bigger the mirror, the more it can see. The telescope is as tall as a three-floor building and as big as a tennis court. It's so big that it has to fold its mirrors to fit inside the rocket.
The telescope flew 29 days to reach its destination, which is 1. 6 million kilometers away fromearth. It sent back its first pictures in six months.
The building of the telescope started in 2004. About 40 million hours of work, thousands of scientists from 14 countries, 10 billion dollars and one heavy-lift rocket made it all possible. Finally, it's ready to help us to answer some of the big questions about our universe.
