Space telescope launched on Auspicious day of Christmas 25th Dec

The world's largest and most powerful space telescope set off on its mission on Saturday. It will explore the universe to find early stars and galaxies as well as look for signs of life. NASA's James Webb Space Telescope took off from the French Guiana Space Center in South America on Christmas morning aboard the European rocket Ariane. Built at a cost of about $10 billion, this observatory will travel 1.6 million kilometres, or four times more than the Moon, to reach its location.

3...2...1… The boosters have ignited, and we have liftoff at Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana! #NASAWebb is now on its way to its new home a million miles from Earth, where it will #UnfoldTheUniverse in ways we’ve never seen before. 🚀 💫 https://t.co/td5j9eUSnH

— NASA Webb Telescope (@NASAWebb) December 25, 2021

It will take a month to get there, and then in the next five months its infrared eyes will be ready to start exploring the universe. "It's going to give us a better understanding of our universe and our place in it, who we are, what we are," NASA administrator Bill Nelson said earlier this week. However, he also cautioned, 'When you want a big reward, you usually have a big risk in front of you.'

Washington DC | James Webb Space Telescope, the largest & most powerful space telescope ever constructed, will lift off on Christmas Day. The $10bn project spanning over 3 decades, a collaboration btw NASA, European Space Agency & the Canadian Space Agency...: NASA pic.twitter.com/ZZlkr8dNR1

— ANI (@ANI) December 25, 2021

As the successor to the older Hubble space telescope, the long-pending James Webb telescope is named after James Webb, a NASA administrator in the 1960s. NASA partnered with European and Canadian space agencies to build and project this new seven-ton telescope, which has been working by thousands of people in 29 countries since the 1990s. Astronomers all over the world were eagerly waiting for the projection of this telescope. A last-minute technical glitch affected the launch for almost a week, and then high winds pushed it towards Christmas.

Merry Christmas! We got you a new telescope.

The James Webb Space Telescope launched today, beginning a one-million-mile journey to see 13.5 billion years into the past. Follow @NASAWebb and join the quest to #UnfoldTheUniverse: https://t.co/TlYpoUHdJu pic.twitter.com/ilwWPuIJun

— NASA (@NASA) December 25, 2021