“Hubble on steroids!”

That is how actively involved astronomy Professor Garth Illingworth of the University of California describes the new James Webb telescope, launched on Dec. 25, 2021. On January 8, the telescope completed the unfolding of the gold-plated primary mirror along with a secondary mirror, as the spacecraft moved into permanent orbit.

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Arthur I. Cyr is Clausen Distinguished Professor at Carthage College and author of “After the Cold War” (NYU Press and Macmillan). Readers can wrote to him at acyr@carthage.edu.

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