NASA Goddard Engineers Testing Webb Telescope's OSIM and BIA Instruments

Several critical items related to NASA's next-generation James Webb Space Telescope are being tested in the giant thermal vacuum test chamber at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.

These photos show the OTE (Optical Telescope Element) Simulator or OSIM wrapped in a silver blanket on a platform, being lowered down into a vacuum chamber (called the Space Environment Simulator, or SES) by a crane to be tested to withstand the cold temperatures of space.

The OSIM simulates the Webb telescope for the purposes of testing the science instruments that will fly on the observatory. The OSIM itself will never fly into space, but it is a vital part of the testing program to verify that the science cameras and spectrographs will function as planned.

'L2' Will be the James Webb Space Telescope's Home in Space

When you ask an astronomer about the James Webb Space Telescope's orbit, they'll tell you something that sounds like it came from a science-fiction novel. The Webb won't be orbiting the Earth –instead we will send it almost a million miles out into space to a place called "L2."

L2 is short-hand for the second Lagrange Point, a wonderful accident of gravity and orbital mechanics, and the perfect place to park the Webb telescope in space. There are five so-called "Lagrange Points" - areas where gravity from the sun and Earth balance the orbital motion of a satellite. Putting a spacecraft at any of these points allows it to stay in a fixed position relative to the Earth and sun with a minimal amount of energy needed for course correction.

The term L2 may sound futuristic and mysterious, but the name actually honors a Mathematician born in 1736. The Lagrange points were named after the Italian-born mathematician and astronomer Joseph-Louis Lagrange, who made important contributions to classical and celestial mechanics. Lagrange studied the "three-body problem" for the Earth, sun, and moon in 1764, and by 1772 he had found the solution; there are five stable points at which you could put an object and have it stay fixed in place relative to the other two.

New Space Scope to search Cosmic Mysteries

A life-size model of a huge new space observatory billed as the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope is taking on the Big Apple this week at the World Science celebration.The gigantic telescope model – roughly the size of a tennis court – will be on show at New York City's Battery Park from Tuesday through Sunday, June 6. The actual James webb space telescope is slated to launch in 2014.

"The Webb is the world's next huge space telescope, and is the scientific successor to the Hubble," said Sally Koris, spokeswoman for Northrop Grumman, the company contracted by NASA to build the telescope."The full size model on display is constructed mainly of aluminum and steel, and weighs 12,000 pounds. It measures about 80 feet long, 40 feet wide and 40 feet tall.

The James webb telescope will watch the universe in long-wavelength infrared light to peer at the most distant objects in the universe, beyond the reach of ground based telescopes or the Hubble observatory. It will study the genesis of stars and galaxies in the universe, as well as a host of other cosmic questions.The festival is a week-long program in New York featuring 40 events on a range of scientific topics hosted by luminaries across many fields.