JWST is solar powered. Sun-Earth L2 is in permanent eclipse and may have unstable lighting or heating conditions. A halo orbit about L2 is extraordinarily boring and always in full sunlight.
Ah, great answer, thank you. Do you happen to know the approximate radius of JWST's halo orbit?
(Edit below, to answer my own question via wikipedia)
The telescope will circle about the Sun-Earth L2 point in a halo orbit, which will be inclined with respect to the ecliptic, have a radius varying between about 250,000 km (160,000 mi) and 832,000 km (517,000 mi), and take about half a year to complete.
According to wikipedia it "[has] a radius varying between about 250,000 km (160,000 mi) and 832,000 km (517,000 mi), and take about half a year to complete".
L2 is unstable so sitting there is not a win. By orbiting (and orbiting at quite a long distance from the actual L2 point) the JWST can ensure its solar panels get maximum sunlight.
If anyone wants to build a fun intuition of how Lagrange orbits work, I recommend trying Kerbal Space Program with the Principia mod (n-body gravity and selectable reference frames).
Comments
Does anyone know why JWST will orbit around L2 instead of being parked at L2? (Is it even possible to be parked directly on top of L2?)
JWST is solar powered. Sun-Earth L2 is in permanent eclipse and may have unstable lighting or heating conditions. A halo orbit about L2 is extraordinarily boring and always in full sunlight.
Maintaining L2 or an L2 halo requires propellant.
Ah, great answer, thank you. Do you happen to know the approximate radius of JWST's halo orbit?
(Edit below, to answer my own question via wikipedia)
According to wikipedia it "[has] a radius varying between about 250,000 km (160,000 mi) and 832,000 km (517,000 mi), and take about half a year to complete".
L2 is unstable so sitting there is not a win. By orbiting (and orbiting at quite a long distance from the actual L2 point) the JWST can ensure its solar panels get maximum sunlight.
If anyone wants to build a fun intuition of how Lagrange orbits work, I recommend trying Kerbal Space Program with the Principia mod (n-body gravity and selectable reference frames).