A look at billions of years in the past and the possibility of finding a second Earth for future generations: all this will soon be possible with space telescopes.
Scientists hope to look back on the early days of space after the Big Bang, 13.8 billion years ago. In pictures of stars older than our solar system that may no longer exist.
Perhaps evidence of a second Earth, a blue planet. With the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) planned for the fall, researchers are expecting entirely new insights.
“This will only open a giant new window and new possibilities,” said Esa’s Director of Science, Günther Hasinger.
James Webb operates 1.5 million kilometers
The start of a nearly ten billion dollar project for the US and Canadian space agencies, NASA and ESA, has been repeatedly delayed.
Now, the giant telescope, packaged as a package, will take off with the Ariane launcher in the fall and fly deeper into space with its four infrared instruments than its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, which has been in operation for more than 30 years. many years.
But this carries a risk: while Hubble has been repaired and maintained several times with space shuttle flights at an altitude of 500 km, this is no longer possible with the James Webb Space Telescope at a distance of 1.5 million km.
According to Hasinger, the telescope, with its 6.5-metre mirror and blinds the size of a tennis court, required more than 130 individual mechanisms to open. “It’s a very complicated game to go through until everything is revealed.” He compared it to a butterfly: “The caterpillar opens, then the cocoon opens and the butterfly opens.”
The first images are expected to appear in July 2022
This process begins on the way to the destination. “There are five points in the solar system where gravity cancels out each other,” Hassinger said. Destinations are one of them. There, with the Earth and sun behind and with a canopy shielded from thermal radiation, the instrument can start its measurements at a wide range of infrared wavelengths.
That’s why they are partially cooled. This will be the first cool telescope. If you want to measure infrared, which is thermal radiation, the telescope itself has to be very cold,” Hassinger said.
The first exam will take about seven months. Hasinger believes the first images will likely appear in July. According to the institute, the instrument developed by the Max Planck Institute of Astronomy in Heidelberg, which is a combination of a camera and a spectrometer, is so sensitive that it can detect candles burning on Jupiter’s moons.
“Dense molecular clouds with a lot of dust and gas are where new stars and planets form. However, dust absorbs visible light that we perceive by sight, and therefore it is difficult or impossible for us to study its interior in detail,” said Klaus Jäger of the Max Planck Institute.
Dust is a much smaller barrier to long-wave infrared light. “Infrared observations allow us to see into these areas or receive infrared radiation from within.”
According to Hasinger, an in-depth survey of the early expanding universe and a telescope search for star-forming regions are planned. “But then most of the observation time will go to exoplanets.”
The telescope can examine the exoplanet’s atmosphere for particles that might indicate biological activity. “Whether it works or not, of course, depends on whether we find the right planet.”
Evidence for the existence of Earth-like planets
The power of the telescope lies in its spectroscopy – that is, you can take chemical fingerprints from any point in the sky. “The picture is beautiful when you look at it. What we got with James Webb was that we could read 1,000 more pieces of information in each element of the image,” Hasinger said.
For example, whether water can be obtained anywhere. Near-Earth Planets are certainly interesting. “At some point, you want to find a planet that is as close to Earth as possible and where there is water and is close enough that future generations can fly to it.”
So Earth 2. The telescope “will likely be able to determine if there is oxygen, ozone, or other possible biomolecules.” This is possible at distances of up to 1,000 light years. Regarding distance: A light year describes the distance light travels in one year – about 9.5 trillion kilometers. From the Sun, which is about 150 million kilometers away, light takes about eight minutes to reach Earth.
Telescope let’s look to the past
In early June, the first galaxies to form after the Big Bang should be observed using telescopes, Thomas Zurbuchen, director of science at NASA, said in early June. In doing so, it will provide a glimpse into the last 13.5 billion years – far beyond its predecessor, Hubble.
“It’s going to show us so much new that we’ll just be wagging our ears,” Hasinger said. James Webb worked in the infrared, and Hubble worked in the optical and ultraviolet ranges. It would be ideal if Hubble continued to operate as long as possible. “Because then you’ll have the whole rainbow ribbon.”
Hasinger predicts that the telescope, named after former NASA chief James Edwin Webb, will have a lifespan of up to ten years. Then the fuel will run out, that is. For a project developed about 25 years ago, NASA initially estimated the cost to be around $500 million. “Scientists and engineers at the time miscalculated a lot,” Hasinger said.
But for Hasinger, the benefits of the $10 billion project are clear. “People like this are curious and always try to understand everything in their environment.” The question is where have we come from and where are we going. The question is how did the universe originate and how will it expand further? How did galaxies, solar systems, and life emerge? “
Jäger said: “In my opinion, one thing is certain and that is the experience of many other important projects: with ‘JWST’ we are going to make discoveries we didn’t expect!”
dpa
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