“[The images] “They are sure to offer a long-awaited ‘wow’ to astronomers and the public,” said Klaus Pontoppidan, an astronomer at the US Space Telescope Science Institute. It took more than two decades to develop the James Webb Space Telescope, costing about $ 10 billion (€ 9.48 billion), and hopefully these first images will somehow justify all the work, time and money. A joint project between NASA, the US space agency and the European and Canadian space services, the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in December 2021. It uses infrared to allow scientists to see deep into space. They want to see distant galaxies and stars and understand how they formed. They also hope the telescope will allow them to learn more about exoplanets – planets orbiting stars from our own sun – and look for signs of life.
What is infrared?
As with visible light, the kind we can see with our eyes, infrared is a form of electromagnetic radiation. Electromagnetic radiation comes in different wavelengths in a spectrum, which starts with the radio at one end and includes microwaves, infrared, visible light, ultraviolet, X-rays and gamma rays. Infrared is in itself a large part of the electromagnetic spectrum and is divided into near-infrared, medium-infrared and distant infrared. If you have seen movies like “Predator”, the documentary series “Planet Earth” or the performance of Thirty Seconds to Mars at the MTV Video Music Awards 2017, you will be familiar with infrared light and some of its uses. All of the above examples used thermal cameras, which capture infrared light. Thermal cameras are also used at airports to measure people’s body temperature, which rises when you have a fever, for example from a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Some snakes, such as vipers, pythons, and bulls, have special “pit” instruments that can detect infrared radiation — or body heat — from their prey as well.
How Do Infrared Thermal Cameras Work?
Anything above absolute zero (-273.15 degrees Celsius / -459.67 degrees Fahrenheit), whether alive or inanimate, emits infrared radiation – which includes you and the chair you are sitting in. Even if we cannot see the object with our eyes, it will emit thermal radiation. We can detect this infrared radiation and then convert this data into an image, using different colors to reflect the intensity of the infrared radiation. And this creates an outline with detailed outlines of the object. The James Webb Space Telescope will provide the sharpest images from deep space to date This is similar to how infrared telescopes like the James Webb Space Telescope create images from space.
Why use infrared in the James Webb Space Telescope?
Astronomers need infrared to be able to see the first stars and galaxies. Infrared allows us to see through clouds of dust that would otherwise obstruct our vision. Dust clouds are where stars and planets are born, and being able to see them through them will help us better understand how these stars and planets form. The James Webb Space Telescope has a huge mirror to capture light from distant stars and planets. The mirror is six times larger than that used in its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope. The James Webb Space Telescope should be able to see objects that are 10 to 100 times fainter than what Hubble could see and take much sharper and more detailed infrared images than any previous telescope of its kind.
A new era in infrared
Infrared was discovered in 1800 by German-born British astronomer William Herschel, one of the leading astronomers behind the discovery of Uranus. Herschel used a prism and a thermometer to measure how different colors of light affected temperature and observed that the largest increase in temperature was in an area known as infrared. The James Webb Space Telescope was launched in December from the European Space Port in French Guiana Many more discoveries and technological improvements have been made since then, including the first infrared detection of the moon in 1856. In 1878 came the invention of the voltmeter, an infrared measuring device, used in an updated form at the Herschel Space Observatory until 2013. Infrared detectors continue to improve their sensitivity and accuracy, allowing scientists to detect infrared light from planets such as Jupiter and Saturn. The James Webb Space Telescope will now add to this rich history by looking back in time than ever before, and in unprecedented detail. If we are lucky, it will reveal what the universe looked like a few hundred million years after the Big Bang.
A look back at the best Hubble images The computer problem has been resolved NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope was unable to send images between June 13 and July 15, 2021. A faulty computer memory system shut down the telescope. Only retired NASA experts were able to bring it back into operation. For more than three decades, Hubble has provided fascinating images of distant stars and galaxies. A look back at the best Hubble images Stars are born This is one of the most photogenic examples of the many turbulent star nurseries observed by the Hubble Space Telescope during its lifetime. The portrait shows the giant nebula NGC 2014 and its neighbor, NGC 2020, which together are part of a huge star formation area in the Large Magellanic Cloud. This galaxy satellite is about 163,000 light-years away. A look back at the best Hubble images Better than “Star Wars” Just as a new episode of “Star Wars” hit theaters in 2015, Hubble took this photo of a cosmic lightsaber. The celestial structure is about 1,300 light-years away. It is the birth of a stellar system – two cosmic jets radiating outward from a newborn star and some interstellar dust. The space telescope takes breathtaking photos. Here are some more… A look back at the best Hubble images Eyes in space Since 1990, the king of all space telescopes has been orbiting the Earth at speeds in excess of 17,000 miles per hour (27,000 kilometers per hour) and at an altitude of 340 miles (550 kilometers). The Hubble is 11 meters (36 feet) long and weighs 11 metric tons (12.2 tons US), making it comparable in weight and size to a school bus. A look back at the best Hubble images Elimination of cosmic bubbles Hubble helped us understand the birth of stars and planets, approach the age of the universe, and examine the nature of dark matter. Here we see a giant gas ball created by a supernova explosion. A look back at the best Hubble images Fleeting colors Different gases emit all kinds of different colors. Red, for example, is a sign of sulfur. Green is hydrogen. And blue is oxygen. A look back at the best Hubble images Hubble needs glasses However, the first photos sent by Hubble were disastrous because its main mirror had been ground in the wrong shape. In 1993, Space Shuttle Endeavor took experts to Hubble to solve the problem by giving him a pair of glasses. This was just one of five updates the telescope has received over the years, with the latest coming in 2009. A look back at the best Hubble images Space kindergarten Hubble took this stunning photo in December 2009. The blue dots are very young stars, only a few million years old. This kindergarten with stars is located in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a nearby galaxy and a satellite of our Galaxy. A look back at the best Hubble images Butterfly? How about this snapshot from space? No one knows exactly what Hubble had in its lens here, but that doesn’t mean the shot is less impressive. This image is just one of 30,000 taken by Hubble over the centuries. A look back at the best Hubble images divine hat This essentially transcendental photograph is — like most Hubble images — a composition of many individual shots. The Sombrero galaxy is a barrier-free spiral galaxy in the constellation of Virgo, located just 28 million light-years from Earth. A look back at the best Hubble images Hubble in the flesh The telescope was named after the American astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble (1889-1953). He was the first person to notice that the universe was expanding. With this finding, he paved the way for our current cosmological understanding of the Big Bang as the inspirer of the universe. A look back at the best Hubble images Pillars of Creation These columnar structures are located in the Eagle Nebula, about 7,000 light-years from Earth. They are documented by Hubble and have received worldwide recognition under the name “Pillars of Creation”. A look back at the best Hubble images In the starting blocks Hubble is getting stronger again. Due to its ever-sinking orbit, however, the telescope could re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere in 2024 and burn up. But its successor has already been set: James Webb, being tested in a thermal vacuum chamber here, is scheduled for release this year. Its workplace will be about 1.5 million kilometers (932,000 miles) from Earth. A look back at the best Hubble images Space smiley This, by the way, is another of Hubble’s creations – a space smiley! The easy explanation? Made of bending light. Author: Judith Hartl (glb)
Edited by: Zulfikar Abbany Author: Judith Hartl (glb)
