Super Telescope: Mission to the Edge of the Universe

Editorial

Simulcast of network BBC Two in high definition.

BBC Two HD

Horizon

Documentaries

Factual

Factual: Science & Nature

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Horizon tells amazing science stories and reveals worlds you've never seen before.

Horizon tells amazing science stories, unravels mysteries and reveals worlds you've never seen before.

BBC Two England

England

BBC Two Northern Ireland

Until 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales (analogue) was known simply as BBC Two Wales. BBC Two Wales (digital) was BBC 2W. From 03/01/2009 BBC Two Wales schedules on both analogue and digital became identical

BBC Two Wales

Simulcast of BBC Two Northern Ireland in high definition

BBC Two Northern Ireland HD

Simulcast of BBC Two Wales in high definition

BBC Two Wales HD

Lisa Jacobs

Martin Gorst

Carlo Massarella

Horizon: 2022: Super Telescope: Mission to the Edge of the Universe

2022

BBC Two - Horizon, 2022, Super Telescope: Mission to the Edge of the Universe

The inside story of Nasa's James Webb Space Telescope and the capture of its first images.

The inside story of the James Webb Space Telescope, following the Nasa team building the £8 billion device and the scientists taking its first image of distant stars and galaxies.

As Nasa releases the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope, this film tells the inside story of the telescope's construction and the astronomers taking its first picture of distant stars and galaxies. Will it be the deepest image of our universe ever taken?

The successor to Hubble, and 100 times more powerful, the James Webb is the most technically advanced telescope ever built. It will look further back in time than Hubble to an era around 200 million years after the Big Bang, when the first stars and galaxies appeared. Webb's primary mission is to capture the faint light from these objects on the edge of our visible universe so that scientists can learn how they formed, but its instruments are so sensitive it could also be the first telescope to detect signs of life on a distant planet.

The James Webb Telescope is an £8 billion gamble on the skills of its engineering team. It’s the first telescope designed to unfold in space – a complicated two-week operation in which 178 release devices must all work - 107 of them on the telescope's sun shield alone. If just one fails, the expensive telescope could become a giant piece of space junk.

From its conception in the late 1980s, the construction of Webb has posed a huge technical challenge. The team must build a mirror six times larger than Hubble’s and construct a vast sun shield the size of a tennis court, fold them up so they fit into an Ariane 5 rocket, then find a way to unfold them in space. This film tells the inside story of the James Webb Space Telescope in the words of the engineers who built it and the astronomers who will use it.

Horizon: 2022

BBC Two

Knowledge, drama, comedy and the arts for a broad adult audience.

BBC Two is a lively channel of depth and substance, carrying a range of knowledge-building programming complemented by great drama, comedy and arts.

Series exploring topical scientific issues.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Horizon

2022

Super Telescope: Mission to the Edge of the Universe

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Brand

Series

BBC Two HD

About BBC Two