The James Webb Novoduribin is located at the L2 Lagrange point. And recently, the Indian spacecraft has traveled to the L1 point for solar research. But what is this Lagrange point? Simply put, a safe parking spot in space. When a smaller object revolves around a larger object, it experiences a gravitational pull towards the larger object.

Lagrange point

Suppose you want to park your spacecraft somewhere between the sun and the earth. After a few years, it will be seen that the spacecraft has moved hundreds of thousands of miles away. If placed anywhere near the sun, the vehicle will move towards the sun. If left too close to the earth, it will come much closer to the earth.

But this is not the case at certain places between the Earth and the Sun. At these places the gravity of the earth and the sun neutralize each other in such a way that the gravitational pull of that place is perfectly balanced. These are called Lagrange points. There are five Lagrange points between the Earth and the Sun. These are called L1, L2, L3, L4 and L5 Lagrange points respectively.

Suppose your spacecraft is orbiting the Sun along with the Earth. We will use a spherical coordinate system. Let's imagine this spherical coordinate system as a flat sheet for ease of understanding. The entire structure rotates at the same speed as the Earth. A centripetal force will act on this rotation. Assuming to understand, it will bend the flat sheet outwards.

The Sun's gravity will again bend the mantle inward around itself, as will the Earth. As a result the current structure will be like a sheet with two shafts bent outwards. If the spacecraft is here close to the Sun, it will continue to spiral down toward the crater surrounding the Sun.

If it is close to the Earth, it will continue to descend towards the crater surrounding the Earth. Again, if it is on the outer slope of the sheet, it will go to the outside. However, in reality, this is not the case. For ease of understanding, it can be thought of as a sphere.

But there are some flat areas on the sheet where the spacecraft can stay safely and not fall in any direction. These five points are five Lagrange points. At these places the gravity of the Earth and the Sun neutralize each other in such a way that the gravitational pull is perfectly balanced.

The first three of these were discovered by Euler, and the last two by Lagrange. The first three are unstable. This means that if the spacecraft moves a little from the Lagrange point, it will be pulled far away by the pull of the Earth or the Sun. But the fourth and fifth points are stable. This means that even if the spacecraft moves a little, it will not move much due to the pull of the Earth or the Sun. James Webb will be stationed at L2.