Part 12/15:
JWST features an enormous 6.5-meter segmented mirror—far larger than Hubble’s—completely folded during launch and then deployed in space. Its advanced instruments are optimized for infrared observations, which are vital for peering back in time to the universe’s earliest epochs. The infrared spectrum stretches as the universe expands, causing ancient light from the first galaxies to shift into the infrared range, which JWST is uniquely positioned to detect.