NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has just reached its final destination ' around a gravitationally special spot in space known as the second Lagrange point, or L2. The US$10-billion observatory could spend 20 or more years there, gathering unprecedented insights about the Universe as it stares into deep space. Webb, which is the most complex telescope ever built, has been heading towards L2 since its Christmas Day launch. On 24 January, it fired a set of thrusters and nudged itself into orbit around the point, which it will circle once every six months or so. L2 is on the opposite side of Earth from the Sun, about 1.5 million kilometres away, or four times the distance to the Moon. There, the combined gravitational pull of the Sun and Earth balance the centripetal force that tugs Webb in the opposite direction. Only a handful of space missions have travelled to L2, which is one of five Lagrange points in the Solar System. But more missions are planned, because the location is...
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