A Voyage of Discovery: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Reaches L2

NASA’s ambitious $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope launched from the European Space Agency’s Arianespace ELA-3 launch complex and began its journey to outer space in late December 2021. After traveling over 1 million miles since its initial launch, the James Webb Space Telescope reached L2, the second sun-Earth Lagrange point, on Jan. 24.

Lagrange points, in solar system exploration, are defined as “positions in space where objects sent there tend to stay put.” With its arrival to L2, the telescope will remain in place due to gravitational stability and close proximity to both Earth and the sun. In this setting, it will also be able to orbit the sun, from a million miles away, at the same pace of Earth’s own orbit.