The successor to the Hubble Telescope will go into space tonight after decades in the making.

The James Webb Telescope will be launched in South America, just after 6pm Perth time.

Australian scientist Peter Tuthill, who had direct involvement in the design of the instrument, told Mark Gibson it’ll be sent around five times further out than the moon.

“This isn’t in Earth’s orbit at all … it’s actually in solar orbit; it’s kind of its own little satellite of the sun.

“We want this telescope to be out there in such a dark, cold, quiet, calm place that we get this uninterrupted view of the depths.”

Press PLAY below to hear how you can watch the launch tonight

Image: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Centre / Facebook