James Webb Space Telescope in 3D: live position and trajectory

Launched in 2021, orbiting the Sun-Earth L2 point about 1.5 million km from Earth.The real position of James Webb Space Telescope is shown, from the trajectory computed by NASA JPL Horizons. The view opens on James Webb Space Telescope; you can travel in time, follow its route and compare it with the planets.

Mass

6,500 kg¹

Launch date

December 25, 2021¹

Launch vehicle

Ariane 5¹

Launch site

Kourou, French Guiana¹

Trajectory: JPL Horizons, precomputed from December 26, 2021 to August 23, 2031.InstrumentsThe PDS archive declares no investigation here, and therefore no instrument. Read in the PDS archive on September 30, 2026.Sources

NASA NSSDCA, Master Catalog. read 2026-09-20. https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/nmc/

3D Solar System

Galaxy

01 / 06 Initializing...

Display settings

In the scene

A column header sets the whole column, a group row its group, a row one object. Spacecraft and interstellar objects start hidden.

What the scene shows, object by object
Object	Label	Object	Orbit

Asteroid and comet field

Drawn in Exploration mode, one dot per known orbit.

Rendering

Accessibility and units

Offline use

Download every ephemeris file so the app can place the bodies at any date without a network. Nothing is downloaded until you ask.

Navigation

Drag orbit the view
Scroll · pinch zoom in / out
Click a body or its label to travel to it
Educ · Explo compressed overview vs true-scale voyage
Clock · date scroll to time-travel, tap to pick

Textures: USGS Astrogeology / NASA-JPL (public domain) · Solar System Scope (CC BY 4.0) · NOAA ETOPO 2022 · Halley: Philip Stooke / NASA PDS.
Illustrative surfaces: Bodies never mapped globally have an illustrative texture, not a scientific map; the body card says so, and Sources lists them.
3D shape models: NASA PDS: NEAR (Eros), Hayabusa (Itokawa), Galileo (Ida) · ISAS/JAXA: Hayabusa2 (Ryugu) · NASA/Goddard SVS: OSIRIS-REx (Bennu)
Data: Astronomy Engine · NASA/JPL Horizons · JPL SBDB · NASA GIBS · NASA Planetary Data System (mission context products) · IAU Gazetteer of Planetary Nomenclature · Open-Meteo.com (CC BY 4.0) · ERA5, Copernicus Climate Change Service (ECMWF)