I'm curious because I read that the James Webb telescope is orbiting and I was wondering if you could see it with a good telescope from here. I have a Celestron 8 at home and I'd like to know if it's possible to see it or if it's too far away.
The James Webb is about 1.5 million kilometers away from here, which makes it impossible to see even with a decent telescope like your Celestron 8. To give you an idea, it's like trying to spot a satellite from Earth, but a thousand times farther away and much smaller. The only way to "see" it is through the images that NASA transmits, which thankfully are spectacular.
The tricky part here isn't just the distance - even though 1.5 million km is a lot - but that the telescope would need to be able to resolve the object into pixels, so to speak. Your Celestron 8 has limited resolving power and the Webb is relatively small in the sky from here. People sometimes think a more powerful telescope solves everything, but there's a physical limit: no matter how much you magnify, if the object appears too tiny, you're just not going to see it as something distinguishable 🔭 The best way to "see" it is through live images that NASA publishes or tracking its position with space-tracking apps.
Your Celestron 8 simply won't be able to resolve something so tiny at that distance, no matter how much you magnify the image! The others answer well about the distance, but what really kills the possibility is that the Webb is a thin structure with no light of its own, orbiting at the Lagrange point L2 - basically it's like trying to see a needle from kilometers away even if you had the best binoculars in the world. The only way to "see" it is to track it in real time through satellite tracking websites that use radar data and orbital calculations, not direct visual observation.
Here's the thing: although technically the James Webb reflects sunlight and sends it toward Earth, the object is so tiny at that distance that no amateur telescope - nor even a mid-sized professional one - can capture enough photons to detect it visually. Your Celestron 8 has a resolving power of around 0.6 arcseconds, but the JWST at 1.5 million km occupies a ridiculously small visual angle, way smaller than that. It's like pointing at a coin 500 km away.
People tend to confuse "magnifying power" with "resolving power." Magnifying 200 times something you can't see is still invisible. What kills the possibility here is the angular size, not the distance in round numbers. That said, if what appeals to you is tracking satellites in orbit, there's a hack that works: some professional observatories do manage to detect the reflection of the Webb's solar array using large telescopes and specific imaging techniques. If you're really interested in seeing it somehow, check if there are university observatories in your area that organize public sessions; some have equipment capable of capturing the reflected light, even if it's just a faint dot in long-exposure photos, not live viewing.
Log into answer.
