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The James Webb Space Telescope, or Webb for short, is due to launch into space next year. It will be the most complex telescope ever flown. It will travel a million miles from Earth, unfold to the size of a tennis-court, and detect invisible light

Learn more about how Webb works and what it has been built to discover:

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BBC Scotland visited in early 2020 to report on our work on Webb. Watch here

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Beth studies extra-solar planets, and will be one of the first scientists to use Webb

We have led the development of one of the four instruments on-board Webb. This instrument is called “MIRI”. It stands for Mid-InfraRed Instrument. Hear from some of the Royal Observatory staff involved in designing and building MIRI:

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Gillian leads the European Team behind the MIRI instrument

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Angus was Lead Mechanical Engineer for the MIRI instrument

To find out more about the UK’s contribution to the Webb Telescope, visit jwst.org.uk To meet more Webb experts visit jwst.org.uk/people/

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Family Friendly Activities


Get creative and explore with these fun at-home activities for all the family

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Draw yourself as Webb would see you – in infrared light!

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Can you engineer a Webb mirror segment from paper?

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Download our infographic, full of amazing facts about the Webb telescope

See Webb in AR!

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See Webb up close with the augmented reality app from STScI

For more Webb activities for schools, see jwst.org.uk/resources-network/