The orbit of the James Webb telescope and the three-body problemThe resolution and sensitivity of the images sent by the space probe require it to be protected from radiation and always oriented towards the Sun, the Earth and the MoonThe James Webb Space Telescope, the largest and most powerful of its kind in history, offers images of unprecedented resolution and sensitivity since its launch at the end of 2021.To be effective, the James Webb must follow an orbit in which, at any given point, the Sun, Earth and Moon are all in the same direction, which the sunshield will face.Its location derives from the work of 18th-century mathematicians Leonhard Euler and Joseph-Louis Lagrange on the three-body problem.An advantage of this instability is that we know that there is a (reduced) number of transfer paths which approximate it.Thus, the Ariane 5 rocket used in the launch from Kourou, French Guiana, did not leave the telescope in orbit around the Earth – as would be usual – but propelled it to this nearby transfer path."