The James Webb Space Telescope, an international project led by NASA along with the European and Canadian space agencies that is due to be launched in October 2018, will be the successor to the Hubble Space Telecope.
The telescope will use a 6.5 meter gold mirror composed of 18 hexagonal segments to capture infrared light from distant stars and galaxies, giving new insights into the formation of galaxies in the early universe as well as the dust clouds where stars and planets are still forming today.
The photo above shows NASA technicians moving the huge mirror with a crane at the Goddard Space Centre in Maryland, USA. Read more about the Webb telescope here.
Originally published by Cosmos as A golden mirror for the next space telescope
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