Since lifting off from French Guiana on December 25, the telescope has unfurled its tennis court-size sunshield and unfolded a massive gold mirror that will help it study the universe in new ways and peer inside the atmosphere of exoplanets.
Although it doesn't sound like it would take almost a month for the telescope to reach orbit, Webb is unique. If the Ariane 5 rocket, which lifted Webb into space, had been going even a little bit faster, the telescope may have overshot the orbit and exposed its mirror and instruments to the sun if it had to slam on the brakes.
The spacecraft includes a five-layer sunshield to protect Webb's giant mirror and instruments from the sun's blistering rays because they need to be kept at a very frigid negative 370 degrees Fahrenheit to operate.
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