Hubble’s Successor James Webb Space Telescope Is Coming!
James Webb will search for life on the planet that is useful for life outside the solar system
After almost twenty years of work, the James Webb Space Telescope is almost ready to start work. The launch date is set for October 31, 2021. This is the largest telescope ever built. It is assumed that this telescope will provide information to solve several important mysteries about the universe.
About 30 years ago the James Webb telescope was built as the successor of the Hubble Telescope. Then after the nuisance, unwanted reasons, canceled the launch 16 times, spent almost $10 billion (not all yet, expected to cost this much until the launch) James Webb is finally on the verge of launch. The United States, the UK, and Canada have worked together on this project.
The Hubble telescope has been working for over 25 years. Only 500 million years of light of the universe after the Big Bang is caught. James Webb is hopefully able to catch more early light as Hubble’s successor. By holding its hand, we will know better about the universe.
Let’s find out some detailed information about the James Webb space telescope.
Its sun shield is 21 meters in length and 14 meters in width. The name shows it is something related to light. Its work is protecting the main part of the telescope (main mirror, receiver, etc) from various light sources (e.g., sun) and heat. James Webb will travel around the world 1.5 million kilometers up from the Earth’s surface. The first picture from this is estimated to be found in about 2–3 months.
The main mirror is the 18th tenth (with 18 arms), wrapped in gold. There’s another mirror for the second one. The light reflected from the main mirror will focus on the Integrated Science Instrument Module. This module will create pictures from the adopted light. The telescope also has a star tracker. These are actually some small telescopes that will guide the original telescope to the target, keeping in mind the patterns of the stars.
The spacecraft buses will work on the core control and management of the James Webb telescope. And, the high-capacity ‘high gain antenna’ will send information to the world.
As told before, one of James Webb’s works is to get to know the universe better. Where the Hubble could catch the light after 500 million years of Big Bang, James Webb is supposed to catch the light after 200 million years. According to the scientific concept, the early monster stars of the universe are made of hydrogen and helium. They later died by the supernova explosion. At that time all the heavy material of the periodic table is made. Just like the young stars we see nowadays, these stars shouldn’t be so heavy. Scientists think the debris of the former monster stars is the sign of heavy substances that are being identified in the young stars. This matter can be verified through James Webb’s ‘eye s’.
Besides, the ancient galaxies made in the universe can also be found in the eyes of James Webb. This can explain the transformation of the universe. We can understand how so much diversity came to be in the galaxies. Also, Dark Matter, meaning James Webb will be looking for spies. Gravitational lensing will be used to test the rotation of far, far-distance galaxies to understand if there are hidden places and how they are affecting the galaxies.
James Webb will also search for life on the planet that is useful for living life outside the solar system. Even it will try to get to know Neptune and Uranus inside the solar system better. It will create a temperature map of their atmosphere (i.e., where what kind of temperatures usually live). List the chemicals among them. Try to know how different they are from each other and their neighbors from Saturn and Jupiter.
Scientists expect James Webb would be a worthy successor to Hubble in modern technology. In the near future, astrology, universe theory, etc will contribute importantly. Now I am just waiting for the launch.
