Abstract

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST): Launch, commissioning, and getting ready for science

The James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) is a 6.5m infrared space telescope that is an international collaboration between the US's NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). Webb launched on 25 December 2021, and is now orbiting the Earth-Sun second Lagrange point (L2). Webb incorporates many innovations to space, including the first segmented primary mirror in space, and a 5-layer sunshield that passively cools the telescope and the four science instruments. I will describe the architecture of Webb, summarize the six-month process of commissioning the observatory to ready it for science operations, and foreshadow some of the transformative science that is anticipated from this observatory, which will be 100 times more sensitive than its predecessors.