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James Webb Observations from Bucharest

The James Webb Space Telescope is a project of the United States Space Agency (NASA), with manufacturing and launch costs approaching 10 billion dollars. The telescope will scan the Universe in the near and mid-infrared wavelength range (0.6-26 microns). It has a diameter of 6.5 meters.

Its launch took place on December 25 at 14:20 Romanian local time, from the launch base in French Guiana, using the European Ariane 5 rocket. The European Space Agency (ESA) was also involved in the James Webb project. The Romanian Space Agency (RoSA) is a member of ESA.

On the evening of December 25, 2021, just 6 hours after launch, the James Webb Space Telescope was observed from the Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy. At the time of the observations, the telescope was 95,000 kilometers away from Earth.

The observations were made with a 0.5-meter diameter telescope at the Astronomical Institute of the Romanian Academy, located in Bucharest. The animation accompanying this text shows the James Webb Telescope on its journey to the Earth's Lagrange point L2. The image also shows the second stage of the rocket that launched the telescope.

Published on: Dec 26, 2021

Animation of images showing the James Webb telescope and the second stage of its Ariane 5 launch rocket.
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