EXPLAINER: Veteran Hubble vs. new Webb space telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope and its upcoming replacement are vastly different

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Don’t ask astronomers to choose between the Hubble Space Telescope and the new kid on the cosmic block, the James Webb Space Telescope.

“Comparing Hubble and Webb is like asking if you will love your second child as much as your first,” said Susan Mullally, Webb’s deputy project scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore.

“Hubble will always be loved for its awe-inspiring images of our universe and will continue to collect important data for astronomers. Webb gives us new and unique eyes of places that we have never been able to reach.”

With NASA and the European Space Agency's Hubble pushing 32 years in orbit, the bigger, 100 times more powerful Webb is widely viewed as its successor even though the two are vastly different. Its liftoff is slated for Saturday morning from the coast of South America.