Half a million kilometers deep in the universe

How do astronomical telescopes help us to peek into the mysteries of the universe? With the continuous development of human technology, our understanding of the universe has gradually deepened.

To better explore the mysteries of the universe, humans have also invented many high-tech telescopes. In the family of astronomical telescopes, the Hubble Telescope's reputation is extremely large.

As the oldest brother in the family of astronomical telescopes, the Hubble Telescope was once 540 kilometers from Earth will be the depths of the universe to the human map, while the same belongs to the family of telescopes Webb is far from Earth, to 1.5 million kilometers deep in the universe, why is this?

Hubble's successor: the Webb telescope

When it comes to astronomical telescopes, the first reaction of most people is the historically famous Hubble telescope. It is true that as the "oldest" member of the astronomical telescope family, the Hubble telescope has been extremely significant to mankind.

Since its launch in 1980, the Hubble Telescope has been working at an altitude of 540 kilometers above the Earth until June 2021, when it stopped working and was officially "retired" with honor. After that, a new Webb telescope was successfully launched on December 25, 2021, becoming the "successor" after Hubble.

The new Webb telescope is a joint effort of NASA and the European Space Agency and other space agencies.

From the mass point of view, the Webb telescope is not like Hubble as a "heavy guy", the Webb telescope's weight of only 6.2 tons, only half of the Hubble telescope, and its lightweight can also make the Webb telescope better in space work.

Although the Webb is not as heavy as the Hubble telescope in terms of size, the Webb is far larger than the Hubble. With an aperture of 6.5 meters, the Webb telescope is five times larger than its predecessor Hubble. Among the ranks of telescopes in the astronomical community, the Webb telescope can also be considered a "behemoth".

The new Webb telescope is also unprecedented in terms of financial cost, as the budget cost of the Webb telescope skyrocketed from $500 million to $9.7 billion due to various influences, and the expensive telescope was always called "Pigeon King" because of the delayed launch time.

Since 2007, NASA has been interested in launching the Webb telescope into space, and with many twists and turns, the Webb telescope was finally launched in 2021, so the Webb telescope has replaced the Hubble telescope as the "gazer" in space.

Why is the Webb telescope so far away?

Historically, the Hubble Telescope has been working at an altitude of about 575 kilometers above the ground, which is considered "homework" compared to other astronomical workhorses. But as the successor to the Hubble telescope, the Webb telescope has broken this rule.

According to statistics, the Webb telescope was launched to a depth of 1.5 million kilometers beyond the Earth, what kind of concept is this? The distance between the Earth and the Moon is only 380,000 kilometers, so we can roughly imagine that the Webb telescope is located in a cosmic space that is incredibly deep.

Compared with the previous generation of the Hubble telescope, the space where the Webb telescope works is also incredibly distant, so why exactly does the Webb telescope have to work far from home?

I believe the main reason for this is that we can all guess: we want the Webb telescope to be able to see more clearly in space.

The Webb telescope has a stronger capability than the Hubble telescope in terms of its innate structure. 6.5 meters of the reflective mirror allows the Webb telescope to have a stronger working capability in space, and on this basis, the space agency that manufactures the Webb telescope naturally hopes that the Webb telescope can contribute more value to them.

As an infrared telescope, Webb can pick up light that is invisible to us in space. But in the vicinity of the Earth, the heat radiation and light are too strong, so the telescope in this case is also difficult to work smoothly, to receive photons.

Therefore, to allow the Webb telescope to better perform its function, scientists will be for Webb to remove all the difficulties, it will be placed in the depths of space.

According to the data, the Webb telescope is located in a position known by scientists as the solar Lagrangian L2 point, in this position, the Webb telescope will no longer be disturbed by thermal radiation, but also be better for human observation of deep space scenes.

Contribution of Webb telescope

Since its inauguration in 2021, the Webb telescope has gradually become a "veteran" in space. In deep space, the Webb telescope has brought back good news and explored more secrets of the universe for people.

On July 8, 2022, NASA also showed the public the images captured by the Webb telescope. In the images, the Webb telescope shows us nebulae and stars floating in the universe, giving us a sense of the dazzling scene deep in the stars.

In addition, the Webb telescope may have captured the earliest galaxies in the universe, and the discovery of the first galaxies is extremely beneficial to our study of the history of the universe, and we are likely to be able to uncover more secrets of the universe through the first galaxies.

During its work, the Webb telescope also discovered a "strange sight" in the universe, finding a galaxy with almost no heavy elements, from which we can also know that there are too many secrets in the universe waiting to be explored.

I believe that in the future, this telescope, which is 1.5 million kilometers away from us, will be able to bring us more surprises.

As the successor of the Hubble telescope, the Webb telescope will be able to make its contribution in space, telling the story of the stars and rivers to people, and exploring the way forward for mankind in the silence of the universe to promote the development of human civilization.