JWST is humanity’s premier infrared space observatory. Featuring a 6.5-meter gold-coated beryllium primary mirror and a 5-layer tennis-court-sized sunshield, Webb operates at cryogenic temperatures (~40 K) in an orbit around Sun-Earth L2. Its instruments resolve the earliest stars and galaxies formed after the Big Bang, map exoplanet transmission spectra, and peer through dense stellar nurseries.
| Sensor | Subsystem | Scientific Measurement Function | State |
|---|---|---|---|
| NIRCam | Near-Infrared Camera |
Primary imager covering 0.6 to 5 microns with deep-field sensitivity.
|
Active |
| NIRSpec | Near-Infrared Spectrograph |
Multi-object spectroscopy of 100 simultaneous distant galaxies.
|
Active |
| MIRI | Mid-Infrared Instrument |
Cryocooled to 7 Kelvin; peers through cosmic dust from 5 to 28 microns.
|
Active |
| FGS/NIRISS | Fine Guidance Sensor & Imager |
Sub-pixel telescope pointing and wide-field slitless exoplanet spectroscopy.
|
Active |