The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the largest and most powerful space telescope to date.
NASA's infrared space observatory, launched on Dec 25, 2021, from ESA's launch site at Kourou in French Guiana, at 7:20 a.m. EST (1220 GMT; 9:20 a.m. local time in Kourou), aboard an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket.
The $10 billion James Webb Telescope is probing the cosmos to uncover the history of the universe from the Big Bang to exoplanet formation and beyond. It is one of NASA's Great Observatories, huge space instruments that include the likes of the Hubble Space Telescope that peer deep into the universe.
For the latest mission news and updates, check out our James Webb Space Telescope mission: Live updates page. Read about some of the incredible discoveries JWST has already made as it explores the universe like never before in our 12 amazing James Webb Space Telescope discoveries across the universe article.
It took 30 days for the JWST to travel nearly a million miles (1.5 million kilometers) to its permanent home: Lagrange point 2 — a gravitationally stable location in space. The telescope arrived at L2, the second sun-Earth Lagrange point on Jan. 24, 2022.
L2 is a spot in space near Earth that lies opposite the sun; this orbit allows the telescope to stay in line with Earth as it orbits the sun. It has been a popular spot for several other space telescopes, including the Herschel Space Telescope and the Planck Space Observatory.
Related: How the James Webb Space Telescope works in pictures
According to NASA, the James Webb Space Telescope will focus on four main areas: the first light in the universe, the assembly of galaxies in the early universe, the birth of stars and protoplanetary systems, and planets (including the origins of life.)
