Watch the James Webb Telescope Being Built Via “Webb-cam”

Want to watch the highly anticipated James Webb Space Telescope come together? NASA has set up a webcam – in this case a “Webb-cam” — for anyone to track the progress JWST inside a clean room at Goddard Space Flight Center. Recently, the Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) was delivered and it will be integrated into the science instrument payload. Two cameras show the action, although the cameras will show just screen shots that are updated once every minute.

When is the best time to watch? The clean room is generally occupied Monday through Friday from 5 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. PDT (8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. EDT).

Click the image above for access to the Webb-cams, or visit the Webb-cam website.

Of the James Webb Space Telescope’s four science instruments, only MIRI can see light in the mid-infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum. This unique capability will allow the Webb telescope to study physical processes occurring in the cosmos that the other Webb instruments cannot see.

MIRI’s sensitive detectors will allow it to make unique observations of many things, including the light of distant galaxies, newly forming stars within our own Milky Way, and the formation of planets around stars other than our own, as well as planets, comets and the outermost debris disk in our own solar system.