By: Elizabeth Merrill
Bark! Voice of the Bulldogs
Staff Writer

After ten billion dollars and years of delays, the James Webb telescope launched on Christmas from a European launch site in French Guiana. In one month the telescope arrived at the destination and it traveled a million miles to get there.
The telescope is considered the most powerful telescope ever and the most expensive and complex observatory ever launched into space . The telescope has 21 foot wide mirrors that send the light from the universe into the second mirror that bounces the light into the telescope’s infrared sensor and now that the mirrors are unfolded, the telescope is considered fully deployed. The scientists nicknamed the telescope “origami telescope” because it was launched folded up due to it’s incredible size.
James Webb is a former NASA administrator who led the agency through Apollo missions.
Many people are disappointed that the telescope was named after someone accused of homophobia and are asking NASA to change the telescope’s name. NASA however, does not plan to make any changes to the name.
The James Webb Telescope will allow scientists to study ancient galaxies, help astronomers study black holes at the centers of galaxies and planets orbiting other stars, and to tell scientists about the beginning of the universe. The farthest and earliest galaxy seen is 400 million years after the Big Bang, seen by Hubble Space telescope
The telescope is seven times more sensitive than Hubble and three times the size. The outermost layer of the sun shield can withstand temperatures up to 230 degrees Fahrenheit.