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I am curious to know at which direction can we can see James Webb Space Telescope.

If you know at which direction/constellation is James Webb going, dont mind it sharing.

Note: By the word see I did not mean to see it by naked eye

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2 Answers2

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Which direction/constellation is the James Webb is headed towards

vs

I am curious to know at which direction can we can see James Webb Space Telescope.

Since it's not traveling in a straight line directly away from you, where it's headed towards and where we would see it are different directions. JPL Horizons can give you the coordinates where it will appear, either from the center of the Earth or from your location.

Here are a few lines as seen from Paris, France at midnight UTC, holler if you need more assistance using Horizons!

                         RA           DEC        Azimuth    Elevation  
 UTC date & time       h  m  s     d   m  s       (deg)      (deg)
2021-Dec-26 00:00     05 04 13.83 -03 01 57.6   205.577701  35.114853
2021-Dec-27 00:00     05 42 13.50 -01 13 07.5   195.730539  38.840861
2021-Dec-28 00:00     05 55 17.07 -00 41 18.1   192.933979  39.728774
2021-Dec-29 00:00     06 02 51.97 -00 23 19.3   191.812727  40.149789
2021-Dec-30 00:00     06 08 05.43 -00 10 18.7   191.432930  40.404420
2021-Dec-31 00:00     06 12 02.11 +00 00 34.8   191.462469  40.582398
uhoh
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In general, Webb will be in view every night for most people on Earth, weather permitting. It will generally visit constellations near the ecliptic ( the zodiac and beyond), since it expected to be in a very wide Lissajous orbit around L2.

Since the sunshield is so large (the size of a tennis court), it may even be visible in telescopes. I don't know how easy that is, but one manufacturer is encouraging people to try: Here’s How to Spot the JWST with Your Telescope! - Unistellarj

For precise directions from a given place and time, visit https://ssd.jpl.nasa.gov/horizons/app.html#/, "edit" the "target" object and specify "JWST", and pick a time range which isn't too far in the future. For a geocentric viewer, that puts it in Orion early on, and Monoceros after that, ranging between 394,000 and 1,351,000 km away:

 Date__(UT)__HR:MN     R.A._____(ICRF)_____DEC             delta      deldot  Cnst
**********************************************************************************
 2021-Dec-28 00:00     05 55 42.03 +00 00 52.7  3.9360502697E+05   1.1421383   Ori
 2022-Jan-02 00:00     06 18 02.74 +00 42 01.9  7.5363851034E+05   0.6371597   Ori
 2022-Jan-07 00:00     06 27 49.01 +01 28 43.3  9.8349587954E+05   0.4463153   Mon
 2022-Jan-12 00:00     06 35 59.67 +02 24 55.9  1.1486661539E+06   0.3247396   Mon
 2022-Jan-17 00:00     06 44 03.89 +03 27 03.4  1.2679857110E+06   0.2312046   Mon
 2022-Jan-22 00:00     06 52 07.65 +04 35 18.6  1.3514567243E+06   0.1589372   Mon

Update: See photo of JWST in Orion by @Skysurfer77x - amazing!

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