NASA's James Webb Space Telescope arrives its gravitational parking area in the solar orbit

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope arrives its gravitational parking area in the solar orbit.

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is designed to offer the world a rare view into the beginning stages of the universe has arrived at its gravitational park position in orbit around the sun on Monday. The sun is nearly 1 million miles away from Earth.

In a final correction, of course, using onboard rocket thrusters, Webb reached its goal at orbital stability between Earth and sun, known by the name of Lagrange Point Two, or L2, which was reached a month after its launch, the space agency stated via its web site.

These activated thrusters were triggered by mission control engineers from the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. 

The ground team employed radio signals to verify Webb’s position. As a result, Webb succeeded in being “inserted” into an orbital loop around L2.

From the vantage point of Space, Webb will follow a specific “halo” path in constant alignment with Earth in the same way that the telescope and planet can circle the sun together, making it possible to maintain radio contact for a long time.

In contrast, Webb’s 30-year-old predecessor is the Hubble Space Telescope, orbiting Earth from 350 miles (547 km) away, moving through and out of the planet’s shadow every 90 minutes.

The pull between the sun’s gravity and Earth located at L2 will keep the telescope securely in its place, requiring only a small amount of rocket thrust to stop Webb from drifting away. Eric Smith, NASA’s program scientist for Webb, spoke to Reuters during an interview this week.

Mission operations have started to fine-tune the telescope’s primary mirror, which comprises 18 hexagonal pieces of beryllium alloy coated in gold measuring 21 feet 4 inches (6.5 meters) across, which is much bigger than Hubble’s primary mirror.

Its dimensions and design to work primarily on the infrared wavelength allows Webb to see through the clouds of dust and gas and look at objects from more considerable distances, and therefore further into the past more than Hubble and any other telescope.

The features are expected to bring about a new era in astronomy. It will provide the first glimpse of young galaxies that date to only 100 million years following The Big Bang. 

This theoretical flashpoint started expanding the universe to motion 13.8 billion years ago.

Webb’s instruments make it perfect to look for evidence of life-sustaining atmospheres in hundreds of recently discovered exoplanets, celestial bodies orbiting distant stars. 

They also allow us to look at worlds closer to us, like Mars and Saturn’s icy moon Titan.