James Webb telescope reaches its final destination in space, a million miles away

Scientists will be able to study the atmosphere of planets outside of our solar system with the help of the James Webb Space Telescope, which will take pictures of the very first stars in the universe.

NASA

The most powerful telescope ever built has reached its final destination in space. The fun part comes next.

Thirty days after its launch, the telescope made its way into a parking spot that is a million miles away from Earth. It will begin its ambitious mission to better understand the early days of our universe, peer at distant exoplanets and their atmosphere, and answer large-scale questions such as how quickly the universe is expanding.

"Webb, welcome home!" The massive telescope's final course correction was said in a statement by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.

We are one step closer to discovering the mysteries of the universe. I can't wait to see the first new views of the universe this summer.

Bill Ochs, the project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, said controllers expect to spend the next three months adjusting the telescope's mirror segments and testing out its instruments.

"We are on the verge of aligning the mirrors, instrument activation and commission, and the start of amazing discoveries," he said.

The Hubble Space Telescope is a great telescope, but it doesn't capture the very first stars in the universe. It will study the atmospheres of planets outside of our solar system to see if they are even possible to live on.

The giant telescope can look at longer wavelength light than Hubble can.

The first stars and galaxies to form are hurtling away from Earth so fast that the light is shifted from visible to IR. The Hubble Telescope couldn't see that light, but the JWST can.

The L2 point in space is where the telescope will stay in order to keep its position relative to the Earth and Sun. Being in that spot protects it from big swings in temperature and allows the JWST's giant sun shield to block heat from the sun. The telescope has to maintain constant cold conditions for the instruments to function properly.

The telescope is three stories tall and has a mirror that is 21 feet across, which is too big to fly into space. Instead, it was folded into a rocket and unfurled by teams. The month-long process was nerve-racking, but it appeared to have been completed perfectly.

Since the late 1980s, the undertaking has cost $10 billion. The first images are expected to be released this summer.