June 30, 2022 22:58
NASA President Bill Nelson announced on July 12 the unveiling of the “farthest image of our universe ever taken” by the James Webb Space Telescope.
Nelson said, in a press conference held by the Institute of Space Science Observatories in Baltimore, which is an operations center for “James Webb”, that the image “shows the farthest that mankind has been able to monitor previously.”
James Webb is a $10 billion project that was successfully launched in December 2021, while it is currently 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.
The telescope has the ability to monitor space phenomena older than those that telescopes were able to monitor thanks to its huge main mirror and its instruments that pick up infrared signals, allowing it to monitor through dust clouds.
Nelson noted that the telescope “will detect objects in the solar system as well as the atmospheres of planets outside the solar system that orbit other stars, which provides us with indications of whether their atmospheres are similar to Earth’s.”
He continued, “These data will answer a number of our questions, most notably where did humanity come from? Is it other beings? And who are we? This is in addition to providing unknown answers to a number of questions.”
In particular, it is expected that the telescope will make it possible to observe the first galaxies that formed only a few hundred million years following the Big Bang, as well as planets outside the solar system.
Thanks to a successful launch, James Webb will be able to operate for 20 years, twice what was expected, said Pam Milroy, vice president of NASA.
On July 12, the first images taken by “James Webb” spectroscopy of a distant planet outside the solar system are scheduled to be revealed.
The spectroscopy is a tool that allows knowledge of the chemical and molecular composition of distant objects, and helps in determining the planet’s atmosphere, monitoring the presence of water in it, or analyzing its soil.
And Nestor Espinosa, an astronomer at the Institute of Space Science Observatories, pointed out that the spectroscopic analyzes of planets outside the solar system have so far been very limited, compared to the capabilities of James Webb in this field.
Regarding the current technology, he said, “It’s like being in a very dark room with only a small hole to look through.” The new telescope made it possible to “open a huge window that provides seeing all the small details.”
Source: AFP