Table of Contents

The James Webb Space Telescope - Mission objectives

The Webb telescope will be used by the astronomy community to observe targets that range from objects within our Solar System to the most remote galaxies during their formation in the early universe. The science mission is centered on the quest to understand our origins, and aims to:

• observe the very first generation of stars to illuminate the dark universe when it was less than a billion years old. 
• understand the physical processes that have controlled the evolution of galaxies over cosmic time, and, in particular, identifying the processes that led to the assembly of galaxies within the first 4 billion years after the Big Bang.
• understand the physical processes that control the formation and early evolution of stars in our own and other nearby galaxies
• study the formation and early evolution of proto-planetary disks (rings of dense gas surrounding newly formed stars), and characterizing the atmospheres of isolated planetary mass objects

Artist's impression of the James Webb Space Telescope. (Image: NASA)

Since many of the oldest objects in the Universe are too cold or too faint to emit visible light, the Webb telescope will use infrared technology to peer past dust clouds and focus on very distant objects, which scientists hope will give new clues about the early history of the Universe.