Suggested Searches

 

1 min read

Artist’s Concept of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)

Artist's concept of the James Webb Space Telescope design with a blue sunshield and golden hexagon-shaped mirror
Peering deep into space and back into time, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will search for cosmic origins, studying objects that existed when the universe was young; when galaxies, stars and planetary systems were being formed. Nascent stars and galaxies are so distant that by the time their light reaches us, it has stretched into the longer, redder wavelengths and is invisible to the human eye. JWST will allow us to see even farther into space beyond the visible-light range into the invisible, infrared spectrum. One of the key components that make these scientific technologies possible is that JWST will be equipped with a larger deployable mirror than the Hubble Space Telescope. This mirror with a suite of revolutionary, infrared-sensing cameras and spectrometers will make JWST an important component of NASA's Origins program.
  • Release Date
    September 10, 2003
  • Science Release
    NASA Approves James Webb Space Telescope Mirror Architecture
    Read the release
  • Credit
    Image: Northrop Grumman

Downloads

  • 600 × 605
    jpg (36.77 KB)
  • 200 × 200
    jpg (6.65 KB)
  • 300 × 250
    jpg (17.86 KB)

Related Images & Videos

A specialists, wearing a white protective "bunny suit," inspects a hexagon-shaped segment of Webb's beryllium mirror.

Beryllium Mirror Segment

Northrop Grumman Corporation's Space Technology sector is the prime contractor leading the design and development of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Following a thorough and detailed evaluation, beryllium was selected as the material for the JWST primary mirror. A...

Artist's concept of the James Webb Space Telescope design with a rectangular sunshield and golden hexagon-shaped mirror

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Animation

Animation of the James Webb Space Telescope deployment of the spacecraft and its optical telescope assembly. The technology utilized in the mirror will allow JWST to see farther into space than is currently possible and help us analyze the miniscule specks of light of nascent...

Big Bang Animation

Big Bang Animation

Animation of the "Big Bang" or the beginning of the universe. The James Webb Telescope with its larger optical telescope assembly will peer farther into space than is currently possible. This "First Light Machine" will finally see what the universe looked like when it was merely...

An assortment of many galaxies at various stages of evolution

Hubble Deep Field Fly-Through

James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be looking at early stars and galaxies. This animation is a fly through the Hubble Space Telescope's remarkable image of the Hubble Deep Field. More than 2,000 galaxies are shown in three-dimensional space according to their redshift. This...

Share

Details

Last Updated
Aug 28, 2025
Contact
Media

Laura Betz
NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland
laura.e.betz@nasa.gov

Image Credit

Northrop Grumman

Related Terms

Keep Exploring

Discover More Topics From NASA

James Webb Space Telescope

Space Telescope

Science Overview

Webb Observatory

Webb Image Galleries