https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/whereIsWebb.html?units=metric Refresh (3600 sec) Skip To Content JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE Goddard Space Flight Center James Webb Space Telescope [ ] Search ENGINEERING SITE: * Other WEBB Sites + MISSION: News/Overview/Features (nasa.gov) + ENGINEERING: (you are here) Building Webb (jwst.nasa.gov) + SCIENCE: Science, Images, Discoveries (webbtelescope.org) + PARTNERS: Agency, Industry and Academic * HOME * WEBB LAUNCH + Launch Home + Countdown + News + Events + Need to Know + Explore Deployments + Where Is Webb? * NEWS + News All + Twitter Feed + Social Media + News Archives * ABOUT WEBB + About Overview + Fact Sheets & FAQs o Key Facts o Who Is James Webb? o FAQ Lite o FAQ Full + Launch + Orbit + Webb and Hubble + Innovations o Innovations Overview o Microshutters o Backplane o Mirrors o Wavefront Sensing o Infrared Detectors o Cryogenic Data Aquisition o Sunshield Coating o Cryocooler * SCIENCE + Science Overview + Early Universe + Galaxies Over Time + Star Lifecycle + Other Worlds * OBSERVATORY + Overview + Optical Telescope (OTE) o Overview o Mirrors o Backplane + ISIM & Instruments o Overview o NIRCam o NIRSpec o MIRI o FGS/NIRISS + Sunshield + Spacecraft Bus * FEATURES & ACTIVITIES + Features Overview + Art & Activities o Webb Events o #unfoldTheUniverse Art o #jwstArt Juried Art o #jwstArt Public Art o Webb Snowflake o Webb Postcard o Coloring Webb o Webb and Origami o Webb Flip Book o Build a Model of Webb o Webb-Themed Pumpkin o Webb Folding Puzzler (pdf) o Lego Web (pdf) + Cool Stuff o John Mather 360 deg Lab View o Webb Virtual Reality o NASA Viz Explorer App o Time-Lapse Movies o Webb@Sci-Viz Studio o Key Facts MultiLingual o Webb Backgrounds o Posters & Print + Games & Educational o Webb & the Big Bang o Build a Satellite o Scope It Out o Beyond the Visible o Podcast: Behind Webb o Seeing Starlight (pdf) o Webb & Hubble eBooks o Webb Folding Puzzler (pdf) o Journey of the Mirrors o Educator Resources * MULTIMEDIA + Multimedia Overview + Images + Animations & Videos + Scientific Viz Studio(SVS) * MEET THE TEAM + Team Overview + Institutional Partners + Science Working Group + GSFC Project + Team Biographies * FOR SCIENTISTS + Scientists Overview + FAQ for Scientists + Solar System Obsv. FAQ + Newsletters + Presentations + Publications * FOR EDUCATORS + Education Overview + Informal Education + Formal Education + Features/Educational * FOR PRESS * = Item opens a new window. * Item repeated from another section. * + Twitter + Facebook + YouTube channel + Flickr + instagram TOP WHERE IS WEBB? About This Page English <> Metric L+ 01d:12h:45s Launch Elapsed Earth Icon 0mi. 0km From Earth L2 Icon 0mi. 0km To L2 Orbit Drawing of a map marker 0% Distance Complete Rocket Icon 0mi/s 0km/s Cruising Speed hot temp thermometer icon --F --C a --F --C b Hot Side cold temp thermometer icon --F --C c --F --C d Cold Side earth xyz arrow pointing to position of Webb the moon L2 Time Distance Most Recently Completed: Where is Webb? This page tracks Webb on its journey from Earth to entry into its L2 halo orbit as well as showing Webb's most recently completed deployment step. At the top of the page, Webb's flight to L2 is tracked numerically. Below those numbers, is a timeline of DAYS since launch, a thumbnail of Webb's MOST RECENTLY COMPLETED deployment step marking its place in TIME on its 30 day journey to L2 followed by details with a larger image, info and links. And on this page, you can EXPLORE past and upcoming deployments on the way to L2. The Deployment Explorer opens to the MOST RECENTLY COMPLETED deployment step, all deployment steps to the "left" (on the top thumbnail nav) are COMPLETED, ll deployment steps to the "right" (on the top thumbnail nav) are FUTURE. What's Next? Explore All Deployments Zoom +/- Image of the most recently started Deployment State of Webb - described in following text webb logo webb logo webb logo rocket icon Countdown rocket icon News menu icon Events menu icon Need to Know gear icon Explore Deployments webb icon Where Is Webb? About this Page This data-driven infographic shows the status of Webb on its journey to L2 orbit. The page constantly updates as Webb travels, deploys, and cools to operating temperature. If you have any issues with the page, hold the CTRL or CMD key and hit the F5 key which will reload the page and should clear any issues. (cntl/cmd shift R works too). Deployment Phases and Steps The MOST RECENTLY COMPLETED deployment step for Webb is displayed along a line that also indicates the major deployment phases. Note that the timing, duration and/or order of deployment phases and steps may change. This page shows the default/nominal timing and order. The phases mark the start and end of major groups of deployment steps. The most recently completed deployment step is shown as a spacecraft icon on the line and is detailed below with a larger image and links. Deployment phases are shown on the line in a light blue overlay on screens large enough to display this info, otherwise hidden. Explore ALL Deployment Steps You can EXPLORE past and upcoming deployments on the way to L2. The Deployment Explorer opens to the MOST RECENTLY COMPLETED deployment step, all deployment steps to the "left" (on the top thumbnail nav) are COMPLETED, all deployment steps to the "right" (on the top thumbnail nav) are FUTURE. Explore All Deployments Time vs Distance View The graduated horizontal line tracks the progress of Webb on its journey to L2 orbit. It can be displayed in time view or as a percentage of the total distance travelled to reach L2 orbit. The display defaults to a TIME line. The units are days. We refer to deployment events in terms of launch + elapsed-time so this view is useful for tracking deployments and time progress. Webb enters its L2 orbit at approximately 29.5days on the timeline. In "distance" view, it shows the percentage of the total distance to Webb entering its L2 orbit. Note on smaller screens the labels are progressively simplified and/or removed. Your last chosen view mode is stored in a temporary "session" (non-persistent) cookie. This cookie will last at most until you close your browser and then be deleted. NASA Privacy Policy. Speed and Distance The speed and distance numbers displayed track Webb's distance travelled from Earth to entry into its L2 orbit. The numbers are derived from precalculated flight dynamics data that models Webb's flight up to its entry into L2 orbit. The distance numbers displayed are the approximate distance travelled as opposed to altitude. All the speed and distance data is with respect to an Earth-centered coordinate system. With much higher speeds early in the trip, Webb covers a large percentage of the distance to L2 orbit early in its trip. This can be seen by toggling the "time" vs "distance %" views on the "progress line". Webb's speed is at its peak while connected to the push of the launch vehicle. It begins to slow rapidly after separation as it coasts up hill climbing the gravity ridge from Earth to its orbit around L2. Note on the TIME view that Webb reaches the altitude of the moon in ~2.5 days (which is ~8% of the total trip time but ~25% of its trip distance). See the sections below on Distance to L2 and Arrival at L2 for more information on the distance travelled to L2. Passing The Moon [moonDistan] As noted above, this page displays the "distance travelled" by Webb as opposed to its altitude from Earth. Webb launched on the sun-facing side of the Earth and travels on a slightly curved path so Webb's "distance travelled" is greater than its altitude. Webb passing the Moon's altitude is a good example of the difference, when Webb reached the altitude (a) of the Moon at a time of launch + ~2.5 days, Webb had already travelled a distance (d) greater than the moon's altitude. Temperatures Temperature control is a vital aspect of Webb's design, engineering and operations. Of the many temperature monitoring points on the observatory, this page displays 2 "hot side" and 2 "cold side" temperatures that are a good indication of overall temperature status and trends. + [webbTempLo] The temperatures displayed on the hot side of the observatory are located on the sunshield structure and spacecraft bus. . The temperatures displayed on the cold side of the observatory are located on the primary mirror and instrument (ISIM) module radiator. They are labelled with the following letters (note: these labels will pop up if you hover your mouse over the display): * a) Sunshield UPS Average Temperature (hot side: Sunshield Structure) * b) Spacecraft Equipment Panel Average Temperature (hot side: Spacecraft Bus) * c) Primary Mirror Average Temperature (cold side: Mirrors) * d) Instrument Radiator Temperature (cold side: ISIM) There are many more temperature sensors on the observatory that our engineers monitor throughout the deployment, commissioning and operations processes. The data points shown here give a good overall indication of the temperature trends on each side of the sunshield as we move through deployment and commissioning. They illustrate the great contrast between the hot and cold sides of the spacecraft and the incredible engineering and effectiveness of the sunshield. These temperature observations are reported daily from actual spacecraft telemetry data. Temperature values will continue to be reported in the months that follow the completed deployment as the spacecraft cools to operational values. Distance to L2 L2 is approximately 1 million miles from Earth (932056 miles/1.5M km to be exact). But Webb never actually arrives at L2, it is travelling to enter an orbit around L2. Webb's L2 orbit is very large in size and it enters its orbit before it reaches the linear distance between Earth and L2. Webb's orbit around L2 is known as a halo orbit which, rather than a single path, is an orbit that periodically varies through a series of paths around L2. Arrival at L2 Orbit By design, the launch vehicle and Webb's trajectory put Webb on a path to an L2 orbit with only small inputs needed to refine it. As it separates from the upper stage of the launch vehicle, Webb is climbing the gravity ridge from Earth up into a halo orbit around L2. Once Webb is in its halo orbit it will be riding up and down and over and along the shallow saddle contour at L2. Read more about L2 in this blog entry. To get the exact orbit needed, Webb's trajectory is fine tuned by a number of "burns" along the way. You can learn more about these Mid Course Correction (MCC) burns on the Deployment Explorer page. The final burn, MCC2, inserts Webb into the desired L2 halo orbit. The MCC2 burn is now planned for L+30 days. At the end of that burn we can say Webb is "In L2 Orbit" and so has "arrived at L2". Therefore, this page, for purposes of calculations uses a distance to L2 orbit entry number ( and timing ) that is a sufficient distance and time after the MCC2 burn to say "Webb is in L2 Orbit". Once in L2 orbit, this page will no longer track distance, but will track temperatures. The spacecraft will continue to cool to operating temperatures and numerous tests and calibrations occur to ready it for operations and its first images over the months that follow. Page Display Units By default the page loads and displays distances in miles, temperatures in Fahrenheit, ie English units (also known as Imperial or USCS system units). If you wish to have the page load and display in kilometers and temperatures in Celsius, ie metric system units use the urls below to select your preferred units. We do not use persistent cookies; so these urls 'store' your units preference. Once chosen, bookmark the urls with your preferred units and use it instead of the default website link. NOTE: the page units toggle button English<>Metric now reloads the page with these urls. KILOMETERS/metric units | MILES/English units Using this Page The following sections discuss a few issues with using this page. Page Display Units By default the page loads and displays distances in miles, temperatures in Fahrenheit, ie English/US units (also known as Imperial or USCS system units). If you wish to have the page load and display in kilometers and temperatures in Celsius, ie metric system units use the urls below to select your preferred units. We do not use cookies; these urls 'store' your units preference. Once chosen, bookmark the urls with your preferred units and use it instead of the default website link. NOTE: the page units toggle button English<> Metric now reloads the page with these urls. KILOMETERS/metric units | MILES/English units Timeline in Days The graduated horizontal line on the display is a TIME line. The units are days. There are 30days on the timeline. Webb enters its L2 orbit at approimately 29.5days on the timeline. Note on smaller screens the labels are progressively removed. On portrait mobile screens of 300-600px wide only the units "days" is displayed. Temperatures Temperatures are updated on WhereIsWebb 1/day. In general, temperatures change very slowly so this frequency is sufficient to give a snapshot feel for the temperature differences on both sides of the sunshield each day. Also note that most of the temperatures displayed are averages of a number of temperature monitoring points on the observatory to give a broader perspective than a set of single point observations would. Temperatures are rounded to the nearest whole number. Temperature control is a vital aspect of Webb's design, engineering and operations. Of the many temperature monitoring points on the observatory, this page displays 2 "hot side" and 2 "cold side" temperatures that are a good indication of overall temperature status and trends. + image of webb showing a gradient of color from the hot side to the cool side The temperatures displayed on the hot side of the observatory are located on the sunshield structure and spacecraft bus. . The temperatures displayed on the cold side of the observatory are located on the primary mirror and instrument (ISIM) module radiator. They are labelled with the following letters (note: these labels will pop up if you hover your mouse over the display): * a) Sunshield UPS Average Temperature (hot side: Sunshield Structure) * b) Spacecraft Equipment Panel Average Temperature (hot side: Spacecraft Bus) * c) Primary Mirror Average Temperature (cold side: Mirrors) * d) Instrument Radiator Temperature (cold side: ISIM) There are many more temperature sensors on the observatory that our engineers monitor throughout the deployment, commissioning and operations processes. The data points shown here give a good overall indication of the temperature trends on each side of the sunshield as we move through deployment and commissioning. They illustrate the great contrast between the hot and cold sides of the spacecraft and the incredible engineering and effectiveness of the sunshield. These temperature observations are reported daily from actual spacecraft telemetry data. Temperature values will continue to be reported in the months that follow the completed deployment as the spacecraft cools to operational values. Units By default the page loads and displays distances in miles, temperatures in Fahrenheit, ie English/US units (also known as Imperial or USCS system units). If you wish to have the page load and display in kilometers and temperatures in Celsius, ie metric system units use the urls below to select your preferred units. We do not use cookies; these urls 'store' your units preference. Once chosen, bookmark the urls with your preferred units and use it instead of the default website link. NOTE: the page units toggle button English<> Metric now reloads the page with these urls. 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