"T-6,5,4,3,2,1 and lift off of the Space Shuttle Discovery with the Hubble Space Telescope, Our window on the Universe."
On April 24th, 1990, Scientists and People (from their home) looking at the launch would have never imagined that this telescope will make a paradigm shift in astronomy. Before its launch, we didn't know how old the Universe was. We had never seen a planet outside of our Solar System. We didn't even know about Dark Matter and Energy. Hubble taught us a lot, but it can only see so far and in so much detail.
To see farther, all the way back to the formation of the very first stars and galaxies (what's known as the Universe's First Light) we're going to need a bigger telescope, and that is what started the largest, most expensive, and most challenging space engineering project humans have ever attempted: James Webb Space Telescope.
Named after James E. Webb, who made significant contributions in the Apollo Program, the Webb is a multi-purpose observatory that will observe everything from the planets in our solar system all the way to the most distant objects we can see and everything in between.
But what's so important about the Universe's First Light? Basically, scientists want to find out how galaxies were formed to understand the situation from which they arose, their evolution, the forces at work and to get a better picture of the Early Universe. It will help them to predict the future of our galaxies and stars.
So in order to do all this, Webb will be equipped with a lot of instruments and one of them is the largest primary mirror ever to be flown in space, with a diameter of 6.5 meters which is more than 6 times the size of Hubble's primary mirror.
Resembling a Honeycomb, it consists of 18 sections made with beryllium (which retains its shape at low cryogenic temperatures) and coated with 100 nm thick layer of gold. Such a coating best reflects infrared radiation. A secondary mirror receives light from the main mirror and directs it to instruments at the rear of the telescope.
But what's the point of using infrared light to see back in time?
The image you saw is the deepest image of the Universe ever taken. It's called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Now if you look closely at this picture you can see some tiny red blips. Those are the most distant galaxies because the expansion of the Universe shifted their light towards the red part of the spectrum. That's why Webb is sensitive to infrared so that it can pick up where Hubble left off.
But there's a problem-The sun also emits infrared. Don't Worry Webb is also equipped with a Sunshield, which is about the size of a tennis court. It's composed of five very thin layers of Kapton polyamide film that protects the mirror and instruments from Sunlight.
The third main part of the telescope is the central computer which controls the operations of the observatory in the orbit.
Still, more scientific instruments will be onboard the telescope.
NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera), which is actually the main set of eyes of the telescope, which will allow us to peer into distant galaxies. A Near-Infrared Spectrograph will collect both the physical and chemical properties of an object. Next in line is a Mid Infrared Instrument which will allow us to see stars being born. Then we have a Near-Infrared Imager and Sleepless Spectrograph or NIR ISS camera that is aimed at finding Exoplanets and the first light of distant objects. And last but not least the FGS or Fine Guidance Sensor, that will help accurately point the telescope for higher quality image and control the operation of the steering and main mirrors.
And unlike other telescopes, Webb will not be orbiting the Earth. It's going to a point 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth, called the second Lagrange Point or L2. When you go out to L2, you don't have the Earth and the sun filling half your sky. So, all Webb sees is the dark of space and be able to do its mission.
The James Webb Space Telescope was first scheduled to be launched in 2007 and was budgeted at 500 million dollars. But as construction progressed and testing began, that launch date and budget have changed a lot. As per the latest updates from NASA, the launch date is now shifted to 25th December 2021.
Now answer this: Telescopes work on a lot of frequencies like Gamma Ray, X-Ray, Visible, etc. Right now, which type of telescope (in terms of frequency) has the highest number in our orbit?
Webb is truly an engineering marvel that will change our understanding about the Universe's formation, expansion, and evolution.
References:
On April 24th, 1990, Scientists and People (from their home) looking at the launch would have never imagined that this telescope will make a paradigm shift in astronomy. Before its launch, we didn't know how old the Universe was. We had never seen a planet outside of our Solar System. We didn't even know about Dark Matter and Energy. Hubble taught us a lot, but it can only see so far and in so much detail.
To see farther, all the way back to the formation of the very first stars and galaxies (what's known as the Universe's First Light) we're going to need a bigger telescope, and that is what started the largest, most expensive, and most challenging space engineering project humans have ever attempted: James Webb Space Telescope.
Named after James E. Webb, who made significant contributions in the Apollo Program, the Webb is a multi-purpose observatory that will observe everything from the planets in our solar system all the way to the most distant objects we can see and everything in between.
But what's so important about the Universe's First Light? Basically, scientists want to find out how galaxies were formed to understand the situation from which they arose, their evolution, the forces at work and to get a better picture of the Early Universe. It will help them to predict the future of our galaxies and stars.
So in order to do all this, Webb will be equipped with a lot of instruments and one of them is the largest primary mirror ever to be flown in space, with a diameter of 6.5 meters which is more than 6 times the size of Hubble's primary mirror.
Resembling a Honeycomb, it consists of 18 sections made with beryllium (which retains its shape at low cryogenic temperatures) and coated with 100 nm thick layer of gold. Such a coating best reflects infrared radiation. A secondary mirror receives light from the main mirror and directs it to instruments at the rear of the telescope.
But what's the point of using infrared light to see back in time?
The image you saw is the deepest image of the Universe ever taken. It's called the Hubble Ultra Deep Field. Now if you look closely at this picture you can see some tiny red blips. Those are the most distant galaxies because the expansion of the Universe shifted their light towards the red part of the spectrum. That's why Webb is sensitive to infrared so that it can pick up where Hubble left off.
But there's a problem-The sun also emits infrared. Don't Worry Webb is also equipped with a Sunshield, which is about the size of a tennis court. It's composed of five very thin layers of Kapton polyamide film that protects the mirror and instruments from Sunlight.
The third main part of the telescope is the central computer which controls the operations of the observatory in the orbit.
Still, more scientific instruments will be onboard the telescope.
NIRCam (Near Infrared Camera), which is actually the main set of eyes of the telescope, which will allow us to peer into distant galaxies. A Near-Infrared Spectrograph will collect both the physical and chemical properties of an object. Next in line is a Mid Infrared Instrument which will allow us to see stars being born. Then we have a Near-Infrared Imager and Sleepless Spectrograph or NIR ISS camera that is aimed at finding Exoplanets and the first light of distant objects. And last but not least the FGS or Fine Guidance Sensor, that will help accurately point the telescope for higher quality image and control the operation of the steering and main mirrors.
And unlike other telescopes, Webb will not be orbiting the Earth. It's going to a point 1.5 million kilometers away from Earth, called the second Lagrange Point or L2. When you go out to L2, you don't have the Earth and the sun filling half your sky. So, all Webb sees is the dark of space and be able to do its mission.
The James Webb Space Telescope was first scheduled to be launched in 2007 and was budgeted at 500 million dollars. But as construction progressed and testing began, that launch date and budget have changed a lot. As per the latest updates from NASA, the launch date is now shifted to 25th December 2021.
Now answer this: Telescopes work on a lot of frequencies like Gamma Ray, X-Ray, Visible, etc. Right now, which type of telescope (in terms of frequency) has the highest number in our orbit?
Webb is truly an engineering marvel that will change our understanding about the Universe's formation, expansion, and evolution.
References:
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