#EZScience: Taking Light Apart with the James Webb Space Telescope

NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is heading to space to explore the universe as no telescope has before. This observatory has both cameras and spectrographs, instruments that take light apart to reveal the chemical makeup of cosmic objects. Dr. Thomas Zurbuchen and Dr. Ellen Stofan discuss the upcoming launch, as well as the Hubble Space Telescope backup mirror and historical spectrographs on display at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum. The James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to lift off on Dec. 24, 2021, at 7:20 a.m. EST (12:20 UTC) from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. Watch live coverage starting at 6 a.m. EST (11:00 UTC):