Comparing Webb and Hubble

The James Webb Space Telescope (Webb) joins the Hubble Space Telescope in the line of great space observatories. Both space observatories have different capabilities and will operate in synergy, complementing each other.

Webb is 100 times more sensitive than Hubble, and by observing in the infrared, it will open up a new window to the Universe. The increased sensitivity is due to its much larger light collecting area (mirror).

Webb’s sensitivity to longer wavelengths allows it to peer inside dust clouds where stars and planetary systems are forming, reveal the composition of exoplanets' atmospheres in more detail, and look farther back in time to see the first stars and galaxies that formed in the early Universe.

Learn more about the differences between Webb and Hubble here.

Webb is an international partnership between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA.