NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Turns Two, Here's Its Top Achievements

Isaiah Richard, Tech Times 25 December 2023, 11:12 pm

NASA's renowned James Webb Space Telescope is the current most powerful set of cameras and telescopes in space, and it recently turned two years old this December 25, 2023. That being said, JWST is a massive cause for celebration because of what it showed the world for its one year of space discoveries since it reached the location where it would be stationary.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope Turns Two

(Photo : NASA)

NASA's James Webb is now two years old, and this marks the time of the year when it was first launched in the ESA's spaceport in French Guiana, South America, on Christmas Day 2021.

It went aboard Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket, sent off to its cosmic location where James Webb would stay and give the world a detailed view of the universe.

In January 2022, Webb also completed its journey to the L2, the Sun-Earth Lagrange point, 1.5 kilometers away from the Earth.

Here are JWST's Top Discoveries, Achievements

One of the top features that the James Webb Space Telescope has taught us is that it is by far, the most advanced and powerful device in NASA, the ESA, and other partners' arsenal in the present. This has been proven multiple times to the world, and since it was operational, the space telescope has brought the world massive snaps that prove its capabilities, even off the Earth.

Back on December 25, 2021, the JWST reached space as it embarked on a Christmas day launch aboard the Arian 5 spacecraft, as commissioned by the European Space Agency (ESA) with the French space company, Arianespace.

It was often compared to the previously most powerful spacecraft with onboard camera arrays, telescopes, and more, the Hubble Space Telescope.

James Webb's First Snaps

Back in early 2022, the James Webb Space Telescope achieved its alignment and the place where it would stay for the duration of its mission, marking the day when it would begin its survey of the universe.

The next was history for JWST, particularly as it gave the world the most detailed and defined image of the universe, one that has an edge over Hubble's previous capture, claimed to be the sharpest snap that humans saw.

NASA and James Webb were also able to capture the Southern Ring Nebula in the highest quality possible capturing more of its colors, details, and leading to improved discovery of the giant gas cloud in space.

Still, it also faced many hardships in its operations, particularly when it was damaged after a micrometeoroid attack, with the small incident proving to be a hurtful incident to the telescope. However, NASA said that this damage was not a big deal, and it did not affect the operations of the JWST dramatically, moving only forward regarding its mission to know more about the planet.

Since it was conceived 34 years earlier in 1989, and launched in 2021, JWST has been the beacon of hope regarding space exploration, learning more about the cosmos, and solving the mysteries in space. Now, it is celebrating its second anniversary since it was launched, with more to learn in the not-too-distant future.