'Amazement and happiness': Canadian sensor on James Webb telescope passes first tests

Far out in deep space, four times the distance between Earth and its moon, a piece of Canadian technology that could help reshape our understanding of the universe has passed its first crucial tests.

The systems that aim the massive James Webb Space telescope, designed and built through the Canadian Space Agency, have been used to lock on to a target star -- a sign that the millions of dollars and thousands of hours spent on the signature project are going to work out just fine.

"It's extremely satisfactory seeing everything coming into place," said Jean Dupuis, a senior mission scientist with the agency. "It's a sense of amazement and happiness."

The James Webb, the result of $13 billion and more than two decades of work, is meant to be the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, the instrument that mesmerized stargazers with its stunning images of the heavens. Webb, however, will orbit much deeper in space -- about 1.6 million kilometres out -- and be anywhere from a hundred to a million times more sensitive.

Launched in late December, it is designed to study the nature of planets beyond our solar system and what the oldest galaxies around can tell us about the birth of the universe. Webb will be able to analyze exoplanetary atmospheres and gather data from so-called "First Light" galaxies, formed 13.6 billion years ago.