# Where is the James Webb Space Telescope now?

> Webb's distance from Earth, live. Why it works far beyond the Moon, how it stays cold, and the oldest galaxy light it has caught.

HTML: https://www.theuniversecounts.com/solar-system/spacecraft/james-webb-space-telescope

Numbers as of 2026-10-31 03:44 UTC. Live ones keep changing on the HTML page.

The James Webb Space Telescope is about 1.6 million kilometres from Earth, far beyond the Moon. It circles the Sun in step with us, around a balance point called L2. From there it gathers the faint infrared light of the first galaxies. As of 22 October 2026, the most distant galaxy it has confirmed is MoM-z14. Its light set out about 13.5 billion years ago, long before the Earth existed.

- Time since light left the most distant galaxy Webb has confirmed: 13,500,000,000 years
- Diameter of the James Webb Space Telescope's primary mirror: 6.5 m
- Temperature the James Webb Space Telescope must stay below: 50 K
- Time since the James Webb Space Telescope's launch: 4 y 309 d 15 h

## Far beyond the Moon

How far is that?

The James Webb Space Telescope is a telescope in space, built by NASA with the European and Canadian space agencies. It collects infrared light, too red for our eyes to see, from some of the faintest and farthest things in the sky.

Webb works about 1.6 million kilometres from Earth. The Moon, at about 380,000 kilometres, is much closer: Webb is about 4.1 times as far away.

Webb does not orbit Earth, as the Hubble Space Telescope does. It orbits the Sun, and a balance of the Sun's and Earth's pull keeps it in step with us. It circles the Sun at about 30.06 kilometres per second. Since you opened this page, Webb has travelled [counts up live on the page] kilometres around the Sun. The point it loops around is called L2, on the far side of Earth from the Sun.

From there the Sun, Earth and Moon are always on the same side. So a single shield can keep their light and heat away from the telescope. It also never passes into Earth's shadow, and can watch the sky day and night.

## A mirror that unfolded

25 December 2021

Webb left Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana on 25 December 2021, on an Ariane 5 rocket. It took about a month to reach its orbit around L2.

Its main mirror is 6.5 metres across, too wide to launch in one piece. So it is built from 18 hexagonal segments of beryllium, a strong, light metal. Each carries a thin coat of gold, which reflects infrared light well. The mirror folded for launch, like the leaves of a drop-leaf table, and opened in space.

The launch was so precise that Webb saved much of its fuel for later. NASA expects that fuel to last well beyond the science mission it was planned for.

## A shield the size of a tennis court

Keeping cold

Webb sees mostly infrared light, the kind we feel as warmth. A warm telescope would glow in that light itself, and the faint glow of distant galaxies would be lost.

So Webb hides behind a sunshield roughly the size of a tennis court. It has 5 layers of thin plastic film, each thinner than a human hair, coated with metal. Each layer is cooler than the one before. The side facing the Sun is hot. Behind the shield, the telescope stays below 50 kelvin.

One instrument, MIRI, needs its detectors colder still. It carries its own cooler to get there.

## Light from the first galaxies

As of 22 October 2026

Light takes time to travel. Look far enough and you see galaxies as they were long ago. On the way, the expanding universe stretches their light to longer, redder wavelengths, into the infrared Webb was built to see.

The most distant galaxy Webb has confirmed is MoM-z14. Its light has been travelling for about 13.5 billion years. We see it as it was when the universe was only about 280 million years old.

Those times come from our best model of how the universe expands. A slightly different rate of expansion would shift them a little. The record itself keeps moving, as Webb finds bright galaxies earlier than anyone expected.

## A grain of sand full of galaxies

12 July 2022

On 12 July 2022 NASA showed the first full-colour images from Webb. The telescope is a partnership with the European and Canadian space agencies.

One image was a deep field towards a cluster of galaxies called SMACS 0723. The patch of sky it covers is about the size of a grain of sand held at arm's length. Yet it is full of galaxies. Webb gathered it in less than a day.

The cluster's gravity bends and magnifies the light of galaxies far behind it, like a lens. With its help, Webb picked out some of the most distant galaxies detected at the time.

## Older than the Earth

Older than the Earth

The Earth formed about 4.5 billion years ago. By then the light from MoM-z14 had already been on its way for billions of years. It set out before the Sun, the Earth or anything on it existed.

While it travelled, the Sun and the Earth formed, and life appeared on our planet. All that time the light kept coming.

That old light ends its journey on a gold mirror we designed, folded and sent away. We are made of the same universe it set out from. Now, for the first time, we can watch its first galaxies taking shape.

## FAQ

### How far away is the James Webb Space Telescope?

About 1.6 million kilometres from Earth, as of 22 October 2026. It loops around the L2 point on a wide orbit, so the distance changes slowly over months. The Moon is about 380,000 kilometres away.

### When did Webb launch?

On 25 December 2021 at 12:20 UTC, on an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou in French Guiana. It reached its orbit around L2 about a month later.

### Why is Webb so far from Earth?

At L2 the Sun, Earth and Moon all stay on one side of it, so its sunshield can keep the telescope cold. It needs to stay below 50 kelvin to see faint infrared light.

### How far back in time can Webb see?

The most distant galaxy it has confirmed, MoM-z14, is seen as it was about 280 million years after the Big Bang. Its light set out about 13.5 billion years ago. Both times depend on the model of the expanding universe used.

### How big is Webb's mirror?

6.5 metres across, made of 18 gold-coated hexagonal segments. It folded to fit inside the rocket and opened in space.

### How long will Webb last?

NASA says it has enough fuel for significantly more than its planned science lifetime, thanks to its precise launch. How long it really works will also depend on its hardware.

## Related

- [Voyager 1](https://www.theuniversecounts.com/solar-system/spacecraft/voyager-1.md)

The light Webb catches set out before the Earth existed, and ends its trip in a mirror we built. What would you want it to look at next?

## Sources

- Age of the Earth (Measured, with error): [USGS: Age of the Earth](https://pubs.usgs.gov/gip/geotime/age.html)
- Age of the universe in the light of the most distant galaxy Webb has confirmed (Measured, with error): [The Open Journal of Astrophysics: A Cosmic Miracle: A Remarkably Luminous Galaxy at z_spec = 14.44 Confirmed with JWST (Naidu et al. 2026)](https://doi.org/10.33232/001c.156033); [NASA: NASA Webb Pushes Boundaries of Observable Universe Closer to Big Bang](https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasa-webb-pushes-boundaries-of-observable-universe-closer-to-big-bang/)
- Diameter of the James Webb Space Telescope's primary mirror (Measured): [NASA: Webb's Mirrors](https://webb.nasa.gov/content/observatory/ote/mirrors/index.html); [NASA: James Webb Space Telescope: Facts](https://webb.nasa.gov/content/about/faqs/facts.html)
- James Webb Space Telescope's distance from Earth (Measured): [NASA JPL: JPL Horizons API, JWST geocentric vectors (geometric)](https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api?format=text&COMMAND='-170'&OBJ_DATA='NO'&MAKE_EPHEM='YES'&EPHEM_TYPE='VECTORS'&CENTER='500@399'&START_TIME='2026-10-18'&STOP_TIME='2026-10-19'&STEP_SIZE='1d'&VEC_TABLE='3'&VEC_CORR='NONE'&OUT_UNITS='KM-S'&TIME_TYPE='UT')
- Juno's distance from Earth (Measured): [NASA: NASA's Juno Mission Captures Jupiter Moon Thebe](https://science.nasa.gov/photojournal/nasas-juno-misson-captures-jupiter-moon-thebe/)
- Layers in the James Webb Space Telescope's sunshield (Measured): [NASA: The Sunshield](https://webb.nasa.gov/content/observatory/sunshield.html)
- New Horizons' distance from Earth (Measured): [NASA JPL: JPL Horizons API, New Horizons geocentric vectors (geometric)](https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api?format=text&COMMAND='-98'&OBJ_DATA='NO'&MAKE_EPHEM='YES'&EPHEM_TYPE='VECTORS'&CENTER='500@399'&START_TIME='2026-10-18'&STOP_TIME='2026-10-19'&STEP_SIZE='1d'&VEC_TABLE='3'&VEC_CORR='NONE'&OUT_UNITS='KM-S'&TIME_TYPE='UT')
- Segments in the James Webb Space Telescope's primary mirror (Measured): [NASA: James Webb Space Telescope: Facts](https://webb.nasa.gov/content/about/faqs/facts.html); [NASA: Webb's Mirrors](https://webb.nasa.gov/content/observatory/ote/mirrors/index.html)
- Temperature the James Webb Space Telescope must stay below (Measured): [NASA: The Sunshield](https://webb.nasa.gov/content/observatory/sunshield.html); [NASA: James Webb Space Telescope: Facts](https://webb.nasa.gov/content/about/faqs/facts.html)
- The International Space Station's mean height above Earth (Measured): [NASA: International Space Station (reference)](https://www.nasa.gov/reference/international-space-station/)
- The James Webb Space Telescope's average speed around the Sun (Measured): [NASA JPL: JPL Horizons API, JWST heliocentric vectors](https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api?format=text&COMMAND='-170'&OBJ_DATA='NO'&MAKE_EPHEM='YES'&EPHEM_TYPE='VECTORS'&CENTER='500@10'&START_TIME='2026-10-27'&STOP_TIME='2026-10-28'&STEP_SIZE='1d'&VEC_TABLE='2'&VEC_CORR='NONE'&OUT_UNITS='KM-S'&TIME_TYPE='UT'); [NASA JPL: JPL Horizons API, JWST heliocentric vectors, daily for one year](https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api?format=text&COMMAND='-170'&OBJ_DATA='NO'&MAKE_EPHEM='YES'&EPHEM_TYPE='VECTORS'&CENTER='500@10'&START_TIME='2026-10-27'&STOP_TIME='2027-10-27'&STEP_SIZE='1d'&VEC_TABLE='2'&VEC_CORR='NONE'&OUT_UNITS='KM-S'&TIME_TYPE='UT')
- The Moon's average distance from Earth (Measured): [NASA: Moon Facts](https://science.nasa.gov/moon/facts/)
- Time since light left the most distant galaxy Webb has confirmed (Measured, with error): [The Open Journal of Astrophysics: A Cosmic Miracle: A Remarkably Luminous Galaxy at z_spec = 14.44 Confirmed with JWST (Naidu et al. 2026)](https://doi.org/10.33232/001c.156033); [NASA: NASA Webb Pushes Boundaries of Observable Universe Closer to Big Bang](https://science.nasa.gov/missions/webb/nasa-webb-pushes-boundaries-of-observable-universe-closer-to-big-bang/)
- Time since the James Webb Space Telescope's launch (Measured): [NASA: James Webb Space Telescope: Facts](https://webb.nasa.gov/content/about/faqs/facts.html); [NASA: Webb Launch](https://science.nasa.gov/mission/webb/launch/)
- Voyager 1's distance from Earth (Measured): [NASA JPL: Horizons API documentation](https://ssd-api.jpl.nasa.gov/doc/horizons.html)
- Voyager 2's distance from Earth (Measured): [NASA JPL: JPL Horizons API, Voyager 2 geocentric vectors (geometric)](https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/api/horizons.api?format=text&COMMAND='-32'&OBJ_DATA='NO'&MAKE_EPHEM='YES'&EPHEM_TYPE='VECTORS'&CENTER='500@399'&START_TIME='2026-10-18'&STOP_TIME='2026-10-19'&STEP_SIZE='1d'&VEC_TABLE='3'&VEC_CORR='NONE'&OUT_UNITS='KM-S'&TIME_TYPE='UT')