The world's largest and most powerful space telescope has blasted off on a high-stakes quest to behold light from the first stars and galaxies.
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope rocketed away Saturday from French Guiana in South America. A European Ariane rocket provided the Christmas morning lift.
Webb is now hurtling toward its destination 1 million miles away from the surface of the Earth. It will take a month to get there and another five months of commissioning before it begins to return images to Earth.NASA says the four infrared imaging instruments on the telescope will allow researchers to study far-away"celestial objects with much greater clarity than ever before."
The $10 billion observatory is intended as the successor to the aging Hubble Space Telescope. The 30-year-old Hubble has experienced several software problems in recent years, leaving it unavailable for long stretches. .Page-below > .RichTextModule {display:none;} .Page-below .Link {font-size: 12px; padding: 5px 10px;border: 1px solid #005687;border-radius: 4px;font-family:"proxima-nova", sans-serif; } Report a typo
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