In search of light after the Big Bang: astronomers hope for a Christmas miracle – Science

The world’s latest generation of space telescopes is a fact. Only the thing must finally get to space. Since development began in 1996 and priced at 13 billion euros, the US-European James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has still been on the ground.

The latest launch date for the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope is December 24 at around 1:20 p.m. Belgian time. If all goes well, at least …

The reason the planned 2007 launch still hasn’t happened is the many technical issues developers have faced over the years. Human errors were made, a sun visor cracked, and during a vibration test, 70 bolts came loose and fell into the telescope. (A few bolts have still not been recovered.)

The launch is also going to be a pretty exciting time. Astronomers are hoping for a Christmas miracle and praying that all goes well so that the € 13 billion does not literally go up in smoke.

Find out how the launch and deployment will go here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=/v6ihVeEoUdo

The James Webb Telescope, a project of NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency, is already emerging as the most significant scientific achievement of the 21^e century. The Space Center of the University of Liège and the University of Louvain are also involved in the development.

The Webb is the largest and most powerful telescope ever, packed with new science instruments and tennis court sized umbrellas. The intention is for the telescope to look back “shortly” (200 million years) after the Big Bang, when the first galaxies formed about 13.5 billion years ago.

We will travel Columbus style to an unknown period in cosmic history and receive the light that weaves its way through space at a speed of 300,000 km per second from the beginning of the universe. But also black holes, dark matter, planets where life is possible and the stars and planets of our own Milky Way are on the agenda to be studied.

1.5 million kilometers from Earth

The difference with Hubble is that Webb can detect infrared light, which is invisible to humans. In addition to seeing older, cooler objects, an infrared telescope like the Webb can look through the dust that normally obscures stars and other objects in Hubble images. It’s because the dust diffuses light that Hubble’s images are so beautiful, but they make it harder for scientists to study objects.

In addition, Webb does not revolve around the Earth like Hubble, but around the Sun, 1.5 million kilometers from Earth. The location is called L2, the second Lagrange point or stable gravitational location in space. Around L2, Webb can stay extremely cold, maintain a stable target, and high aiming efficiency.

When it arrives, the telescope will be monitored for six months so that scientists can verify that the telescope unfolded correctly at launch and that the instruments are functioning properly.

celestial images

After that, Webb will send his first photos. And they promise to be beautiful. Webb’s camera is 100 times more sensitive than Hubble. Certainly, assigning colors that our eyes can see to the different wavelengths of infrared light takes a lot of work. But this was already the case with Hubble, which sends the images in black and white. Some of Hubble’s images, such as the Pillars of Creation, have since become part of the collective memory.

Via the site of THIS in Nasa can be tracked online from the European space base at Kourou in French Guiana.

The world’s latest generation of space telescopes is a fact. Only the thing must finally get to space. Since development began in 1996 and priced at 13 billion euros, the US-European James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has still been on the ground. The latest launch date for the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope is December 24 at around 1:20 p.m. Belgian time. If all goes well, that’s … The reason the planned 2007 launch still hasn’t happened is because of the many technical issues developers have faced over the years. Human errors were made, a sun visor cracked, and during a vibration test, 70 bolts came loose and fell into the telescope. (A few bolts still haven’t been retrieved.) The launch is also going to be a pretty tense moment. Astronomers are hoping for a Christmas miracle and praying that all goes well so that the $ 13 billion does not literally go up in smoke. Watch the launch and deployment unfold here: The James Webb Telescope, a project of NASA, ESA and the Canadian Space Agency, is already called the most significant scientific achievement of the 21st century. The Space Center of the University of Liège and the University of Louvain are also involved in the development. The Webb is the largest and most powerful telescope ever, packed with new science instruments and tennis court sized umbrellas. The intention is for the telescope to look back “shortly” (200 million years) after the Big Bang, when the first galaxies formed about 13.5 billion years ago. We will travel Columbus style to an unknown period in cosmic history and receive the light that weaves its way through space at a speed of 300,000 km per second from the beginning of the universe. But also black holes, dark matter, planets where life is possible and the stars and planets of our own Milky Way are on the agenda to be studied. The difference with Hubble is that Webb can detect infrared light, which is invisible to humans. In addition to seeing older, cooler objects, an infrared telescope like the Webb can look through the dust that normally obscures stars and other objects in Hubble images. It is precisely because dust scatters light that Hubble’s images are so beautiful, but it makes it more difficult for scientists to study objects. Moreover, Webb does not revolve around the earth like Hubble, but around the sun, 1.5 million kilometers away from the earth. The location is called L2, the second Lagrange point or stable gravitational location in space. Around L2, Webb can stay extremely cold, maintain a stable target and high observation efficiency.On arrival, the telescope will be monitored for six months so that scientists can verify that the telescope went smoothly at launch. and that the instruments are functioning correctly. Heavenly Pictures After that, Webb will send his first pictures. And they promise to be beautiful. Webb’s camera is 100 times more sensitive than Hubble. Certainly, assigning colors that our eyes can see to the different wavelengths of infrared light takes a lot of work. But this was also the case with Hubble, which sends the images in black and white. Some of Hubble’s images, such as the Pillars of Creation, have since become part of the collective memory. The launch from the European space base at Kourou in French Guiana can be followed online via the ESA and NASA website.