L2, the second Lagrangian Point

The L2 point is rapidly establishing itself as a pre-eminent location

for advanced spaceprobes and ESA has a number of missions that
make use of this orbital 'sweet-spot' such as Gaia and the James
Webb Space Telescope.
L2 is one of the so-called Lagrangian points, discovered by mathematician Joseph
Louis Lagrange. Lagrangian points are locations in space where gravitational forces
and the orbital motion of a body balance each other. Therefore, they can be used by
spacecraft to 'hover'. L2 is located 1.5 million kilometres directly 'behind' the Earth as
viewed from the Sun. It is about four times further away from the Earth than the Moon
ever gets and orbits the Sun at the same rate as the Earth.

It is a great place from which to observe the larger Universe. A spacecraft would not
have to make constant orbits of the Earth, which result in it passing in and out of the
Earth's shadow and causing it to heat up and cool down, distorting its view. Free from
this restriction and far away from the heat radiated by Earth, L2 provides a much
more stable viewpoint.

Since Lagrangian points are produced by the 'balance' of two or more opposing
forces, it is possible that 'artificial' Lagrangian points could be created by spacecraft if
they could constantly produce a force to counteract the pull of gravity. Giant reflective
sails, known as solar sails, could do this by using the Sun's light to push. They would
allow spacecraft to 'hover' almost anywhere they wanted in space, rather than being
forced to move constantly through an orbit.

Lagrange was born in Turin in 1736. He moved to Paris in 1787, where he remained,
until his death in 1813. During his life, his greatest contribution to mathematical
astronomy was his theoretical investigation of the way in which gravitational forces
act on a small mass when placed in the vicinity of two larger ones. He discovered
that there are 5 points, dotted around the two larger masses, in which all the forces
acting on the small one would cancel out. These have become known as Lagrangian
points and are labelled L1 to L5.