On Christmas Eve, 'This' Flies in the Sky Instead of Santa's Sleigh

James Webb Space Telescope to Reveal 'Secrets of the Birth of the Universe', Launch on 25th
National Gwacheon Science Museum to Live Stream Launch on YouTube

▲James Webb Space Telescope to be launched next year. [Photo by NASA/Northrop Grumman]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] The Gwacheon National Science Museum announced on the 22nd that it will live broadcast the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at 9:20 PM on the 25th (Korean time).

NASA plans to launch the Webb telescope from the Kourou Space Center in French Guiana, South America, on that day. Originally scheduled for the evening of Christmas Eve, the 24th, the launch was postponed by one day. The Webb telescope is the next-generation space telescope succeeding the Hubble Space Telescope, expected to observe the first stars and galaxies in the universe after the Big Bang that have not been observed until now. It is the most powerful space telescope in human history, capable of revealing many secrets of the universe that have remained unknown.

Since 1996, it has been promoted as the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, but due to budget shortages and design changes, among various hardships, the launch is finally taking place after 15 years. Recently, it suffered a major shock during transportation and communication anomalies were discovered, causing several delays.

Unlike the Hubble Space Telescope, which observes in the visible light spectrum, the Webb telescope observes using the infrared spectrum. Through this, it is expected to provide scientific evidence regarding the history of the universe in previously unobservable regions, secrets related to the birth of stars and exoplanets, and the possibility of extraterrestrial life by analyzing the atmospheric components of exoplanets.

Additionally, to perform the challenging infrared observations, it will observe from the Lagrange Point L2, about 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth (a point where the gravitational forces of the Sun and Earth and the centrifugal force balance). With a diameter of 6.5 meters and an area of 25㎡, it has 10 to 100 times higher resolution and sensitivity than the existing Hubble Space Telescope. NASA explains that it can capture infrared rays emitted by celestial bodies that have moved away since the universe began with the Big Bang 13.8 billion years ago, allowing humanity to glimpse the early universe about 13.5 billion years ago. During transit, the deployment of major observation components such as the primary mirror and sunshield will take place over a month. Advanced technologies such as a sunshield to withstand the Sun's heat, ultra-low power computers, large high-performance infrared detectors, and thousands of millimeter-sized apertures have been applied.

The Gwacheon Science Museum will conduct the live broadcast together with 'Gwedo,' a science communicator from the popular science YouTube channel 'Andoel Science,' which has over 460,000 subscribers, and Dr. Kang Sung-joo from the Gwacheon Science Museum.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.