The James Webb Space Telescope, NASA's landmark, was launched on Christmas Day. This telescope will answer many questions, such as whether there are possible exoplanets in the Milky Way galaxy that existed on Earth, and how the first galaxies formed from the Big Bang. European and Canadian space companies contributed to the project.

From the word ‘telescope’ we understand that it is a tool that helps to ‘see’ objects that are far away. If we want to see an object, light must shine on that object, reflect it and come to our eyes. Light covers wavelengths ranging from nanometers to kilometers. In this, we can see light at a wavelength of 0.4 to 0.7 micrometers - hence, this wavelength is called perceptible light. We need instruments to sense light at wavelengths that are invisible to the naked eye. Everything on Earth emits infrared radiation. We will feel this hot. The wavelength of infrared rays is greater than the wavelength of light that our eyes can see. The heat in our body is also emitted as infrared radiation. So, with infrared photographic equipment, it is possible to monitor humans even at night. Surveillance devices in ATMs do just that.

Planets and galaxies in space emit heat as infrared radiation. So, by fitting telescopes that detect infrared instruments we can explore various objects in the sky. The James Webb Telescope is capable of absorbing infrared light with a wavelength of 0.6 - 28.3 micrometers.