4/29/2023 0 Comments James webb telescope orbit![]() Furthermore, by orbiting rather than being exactly at L2, Webb will never have the Sun eclipsed by Earth, which is necessary for Webb's thermal stability and for power generation. Note that it is simpler, easier, and more efficient to orbit around L2 than to dwell precisely at L2. And because L2 is a location of gravitational equilibrium, it is easy for Webb to maintain an orbit there. Moreover, at L2, Earth is far enough away that the roughly room-temperature heat radiating from it won't warm up Webb. To view any and every point in the sky over the course of time requires merely waiting a few months to travel farther around the Sun and reveal more of the sky that was previously "behind" the Sun. This enables them to get cold for infrared sensitivity, yet still access nearly half the sky at any given moment for observations. At Sun-Earth L2, the Sun and Earth (and Moon, too) are always on one side of space, allowing Webb to keep its telescope optics and instruments perpetually shaded. ![]() So why send Webb to orbit Sun-Earth L2? Because it is an ideal location for an infrared observatory. Lagrange points are labeled L1 through L5 and are preceded by the names of the two gravitational bodies that generate them (the big one first). Mathematically, Lagrange points are solutions to what is called the "restricted three-body problem." Any two massive, gravitationally significant objects in space generate five specific locations-Lagrange points-where their gravitational forces and the centrifugal force of the motion of a small, third body such as a spacecraft are in equilibrium.
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