Webb Arrives at Second Lagrange Point of Sun-Earth System astronomy space science
On January 24, 2021, the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope fired its thrusters for 297 seconds to complete the final post launch course correction to its trajectory; this burn inserted the telescope toward its ‘halo’ orbit around the second Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system ., welcome home! Congratulations to the team for all of their hard work ensuring Webb’s safe arrival at L2 today,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
Moreover, at L2, Earth is far enough away that the roughly room-temperature heat radiating from it won’t warm up Webb. Furthermore, by orbiting rather than being exactly at L2, Webb will never have the Sun eclipsed by Earth, which is necessary for Webb’s thermal stability and for power generation.L2 is also convenient for always maintaining contact with the Mission Operations Center on Earth through the Deep Space Network. Other space-based observatories including WMAP, Herschel, and Planck orbit L2 for the same reasons.
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