The James Webb Space Telescope is Up for Major Discoveries, But NASA Delays Its Launch Once Again

The James Webb Space Telescope is Up for Major Discoveries, But NASA Delays Its Launch Once Again
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Some astronomers might have lost count regarding how many times NASA delayed the launch of its next-generation James Webb Space Telescope. The latest plan was to launch the gear by December 22, but according to Engadget.com, a new delay is caused by a communications issue that the team behind the development of the telescope is working on.

As a result, the James Webb Telescope won’t launch earlier than Christmas Eve, December 24. But hopefully, it will be worth the long wait, as the telescope is up for some huge and exciting astronomic plans.

Uncovering the secrets of Sagittarius A

The supermassive black hole from the center of our Milky Way galaxy follows the same recipe as many other objects of its kind. Such black holes are located at the heart of many other galaxies out there, and they use their gravity to shape the form of entire galaxies.

But Sagittarius A, the supermassive black hole from the heart of the Milky Way, is peculiar at least for its powerful flickering flares occurring in the surrounding material. Scientists hope that the James Webb Space Telescope will uncover the secrets of this phenomenon.

Farhad Yusef-Zadeh, an astronomer, said as cited by SciTechDaily.com:

Our galaxy’s supermassive black hole is the only one known to have this kind of flaring, and while that has made capturing an image of the region very difficult, it also makes Sagittarius A* even more scientifically interesting.

The next-generation telescope will have to gather fresh data about very distant stars and their formation. There’s a lot more to find out about such cosmic objects, and that’s the exact beauty of science in general and astronomy in particular. The more scientists learn, the more they realize how much more there is to uncover about the Universe.


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Even since he was a child, Cristian was staring curiously at the stars, wondering about the Universe and our place in it. Today he's seeing his dream come true by writing about the latest news in astronomy. Cristian is also glad to be covering health and other science topics, having significant experience in writing about such fields.

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