James Webb Space Telescope launched into space

An Ariane 5 rocket carrying the James Webb Space Telescope lifted off from the Kourou spaceport in French Guiana. The observatory, worth about 10 billion dollars, was built by NASA with the European and Canadian space agencies.

The telescope, with a 6.5-metre primary mirror, will operate at the L2 Lagrange point about 1.5 million kilometres from Earth. The journey there will take about a month.

During the flight the telescope must gradually unfold a sunshield the size of a tennis court and the segments of its mirror. The first science images are expected in about six months.

Webb will be able to observe the first galaxies formed after the Big Bang and study the atmospheres of exoplanets.