Differences between Webb and Hubble telescopes
- December 13, 2021
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
No Comments
Differences between Webb and Hubble telescopes
Subject – Science and Tech
Context – The James Webb Space Telescope, NASA’s most powerful telescope, is scheduled to be rocketed into orbit no earlier than December 22.
Concept –
- Though Webb is often called the replacement for the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA said it prefers to call it a successor.
- Launched into low Earth orbit in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope has made more than 1.4 million observations, including tracking interstellar objects, capturing a comet colliding with Jupiter, and discovering moons around Pluto.
- Hubble has captured galaxies merging, probed supermassive black holes and has helped us understand the history of our universe.
Parameter | James Webb | Hubble |
Wavelength |
| See mainly in the ultraviolet and visible part of the spectrum
|
Size |
| Hubble’s mirror was much smaller – 2.4 metres in diameter. |
Orbit | Webb will not orbit the Earth. It will orbit the sun at about 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth.
| Hubble orbits around the Earth at an altitude of ~570 km.
|
How far can the telescope see? |
| Hubble can see the equivalent of “toddler galaxies”
|
Webb vs Herschel Space Observatory
- In 2009, the European Space Agency launched an infrared telescope named the Herschel Space Observatory.
- It also orbits the Sun similar to how Webb would. The primary difference between Webb and Herschel is the wavelength range: Webb goes from 0.6 to 28 microns, while Herschel covers 60 to 500 microns.
- Also, Herschel’s mirror is smaller than Webb’s. It is 3.5 metres in diameter, while Webb’s primary mirror has a diameter of 6.5 metres.