By Leah Crane.
An artist's impression of a telescope.
The ATG medialab is run by the ESA.
One month after its launch, the James Webb Space Telescope has arrived at its new home. On 24 January, the spacecraft fired its thrusters for about five minutes to place it into its final orbit, and now it is ready to calibrate its mirrors and scientific instruments before peering out into the universe.
The telescope is at a place called a Lagrange point, where the forces on the spaceship balance out to keep it in place. The L2 is 1.5 million kilometres away from the planet in the direction of the sun. It won't stay parked directly at the Lagrange point, but will rather wobble back and forth around it, which requires a small burn of the thrusters about every three weeks, but is more stable in the long run.
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