Twenty researchers from Toulouse are preparing to work on the first data from the James Webb space telescope launched on December 25, 2021. With the aim of collecting the first glimmers of the Universe. The Toulouse astrophysicist Olivier Berné gives a conference on Thursday June 16 in Toulouse.
What news do you have from the James Webb Space Telescope?
It is in place, at Lagrange point L2, 1.5 million kilometers from Earth, beyond the orbit of the Moon. According to the feedback from my American and French colleagues involved, everything is going very well, even better than we had hoped. The evaluation image of the alignment of the telescope mirrors is already remarkable. We can clearly see a star there and, behind this star, we can already see very well all the galaxies of the distant Universe, billions of light-years from us. Everything works great, the images are razor sharp. Our observations in the Orion Nebula promise to be spectacular!
When will your observations start?
Scientific operations will begin on July 1, the first scientific images will be made public on July 12 and the NASA keep the secret about what they will contain. For our research, the James Webb Telescope will point in September to the Orion Nebula, the closest star nursery to us. For us, everything will be concentrated on three to four weeks of observations, without the possibility of starting again. Nearly thirty scientific articles are planned. This represents more than ten years of work for one month of observations. But we will also be working from mid-July, in collaboration with teams from the Paris Observatory, on observation data from Jupiter and Ganymede, one of its natural satellites. This will allow us to test the algorithms that we have developed with the Computer Science Research Institute of Toulouse (1).
Why do you say that the James Webb Telescope opens a new window on the Universe?
Because it is the largest telescope ever sent into space, with a mirror six meters in diameter. A telescope is a funnel of light, and the bigger it is, the further you can see, and the further you look, the more you dive into the past. We are lucky to be in a Universe whose topology receives signals from ancient stars. The James Webb telescope will try to collect the first lights of the Universe because it allows you to see the detail of things. It will plunge us into regions where planets are forming. In the Orion Nebula, we’re going to be looking at stars that are just a few hundred thousand years old, and that’s important because the scientific community’s assumption is that planets form very quickly, less than a million years old. This rapid formation interests us because that’s where everything happens: the legacy of the interstellar medium, the recovery of elementary bricks.
“Understanding our origins at a time when our destiny is uncertain is not useless”
What can these observations bring us?
It’s about understanding our origins, those of the solar system. I think it is useful to consider the question of our origins at a time when, on Earth, our destiny is uncertain. To decide where we are going. The James Webb Telescope is truly a tool for mankind.
Conference Thursday, June 16 in Toulouse
AssoSciences Midi-Pyrénées is offering a conference on Thursday 16 June on the theme “The James Webb space telescope: a new window on the Universe”. It will be moderated by Olivier Berné, astrophysicist at the CNRS, at the Institute for Research in Astrophysics and Planetology of Toulouse (IRAP). Meeting at 7 p.m., Salle du Sénéchal, 17 rue Rémusat in Toulouse. Free admission. Additional information on the website www.assosciences.net