This is an artist’s conception of the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to the Hubble. The European Space Agency is working on it, with NASA, Northrop Grumman and Ball Aerospace.
Soon, it will be able to see so many stars….
The JWST is meant to launch into orbit from French Guiana in October 2018. At the link up there, you can watch the (ahem) WebbCams. The main optical component consists of 18 adjustable mirrors. It’s also got a giant array of “solar attenuators” (cool and shady) and a super-powerful freezer (the “cryocooler”) to keep some very sensitive infrared detectors cold enough to… well, detect infrared. Tiny dots of it.
Far, far away in space.