'The most powerful telescope ever built': James Webb telescope to launch Christmas morning

The James Webb telescope will launch Christmas 2021 (NASA)

Those up early enough on Christmas morning will be able to watch history being made, with the James Webb telescope set to launch into space.

The launch taking place at 5:20 a.m. MT on Saturday is NASA’s next flagship mission, in partnership with the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

“If everything goes to plan, the James Webb telescope will be, in many respects, the most powerful telescope ever built,” said University of Alberta History Professor Robert Smith.

Smith has been following the telescope's progress for almost 20 years, and will be publishing a book within a year or so of the launch.

Webb will work in conjunction with the Hubble Space telescope, which was launched back in 1990. Smith said Hubble transformed the field of astronomy and how scientists view the universe, and the hope is that Webb will do the same.

“In a way, the James Webb space telescope is a sort of extremely powerful time machine,” Smith said.

LOOKING BACK AT TIME

The goal of the mission is to search for some of the first stars and galaxies formed after the Big Bang.

“Because the universe is expanding, and it’s going away from us…it takes time for light to travel,” said Stephan Milam with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. “We’re actually seeing these objects as they were over 13 billion years ago, even though it’s right in front of us now.”

“So it’s like looking back at time.”

In addition, the Webb telescope may be able to provide insight into the habitability of other planets. Unlike the Hubble telescope, which operates using optical light, Webb uses infrared wavelengths, which will allow scientists to look for molecules that might indicate life on other planets – like water or carbon dioxide.

“What we’re going to be doing is studying planets around stars…and seeing if they have some of these key ingredients,” Milam said.

FEAT OF ENGINEERING

The Webb telescope has been referred to as the “Origami” or “Transformer” telescope.

It’s so large that to launch it into space, the telescope must be folded up inside a rocket and reassembled at its destination.

In addition to being able to fold up, it had to be lightweight – despite having a sun shield the size of a tennis court, a mirror three times bigger than the Hubble’s, and standing three stories high.

“So the whole mass of this entire monstrosity of an observatory is actually half of the Hubble Space telescope,” Milam said.

Once in space, the telescope will operate using a guiding system built by the Canadian Space Agency.

“The functioning of the telescope is absolutely dependent on the guiding system,” Smith said.

The system will ensure the telescope can accurately train on the objects being studied and stay trained on them for hours.

The James Webb telescope launches Christmas morning, you can watch it live online.