BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Brad Klein reviews the week’s astronomical highlights with Bethlehem’s "Backyard Astronomy Guy," Marty McGuire.
This week, we look back at a banner year for the James Webb Space Telescope.
Launched on Christmas day, 2021, it is now operating from its permanent orbit of the Sun, about a million miles outside the Earth’s orbit.
“This allows it to be in a very cold dark spot to observe distant parts of the universe,” according to McGuire, who had a chance to see the instrument, up close, before its launch.
In 2016 and again in 2017, McGuire traveled to the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland where he was able to observe the telescope’s enormous mirror as it was assembled and tested.
“I saw it from 100 feet away and now it's a million miles away,” he said.