James Webb Space Telescope

James Webb Space Telescope

Subject: Science & Tech.

Context:

The United States space research agency NASA said in a release on Monday (July 11) that its James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has produced the deepest and sharpest infrared image of the distant universe that has ever been seen, heralding a major event in astronomy. The JWST is the largest and most powerful telescope ever built.

What is NASA’s James Webb Telescope?

It was launched aboard a rocket on December 25, 2021, and is currently at a point in space known as the Sun-Earth L2 Lagrange point, approximately 1.5 million km beyond Earth’s orbit around the Sun.

Lagrange Point 2 is one of the five points in the orbital plane of the Earth-Sun system. Named after Italian-French mathematician Josephy-Louis Lagrange, the points are in any revolving two-body system like Earth and Sun, marking where the gravitational forces of the two large bodies cancel each other out. Objects placed at these positions are relatively stable and require minimal external energy or fuel to keep themselves there, and so many instruments are positioned here.

L2 is a position directly behind Earth in the line joining the Sun and the Earth. It would be shielded from the Sun by the Earth as it goes around the Sun, in sync with the Earth.

Mission of the James Webb Space Telescope

NASA says the James Webb Space Telescope will be “a giant leap forward in our quest to understand the Universe and our origins”, as it will examine every phase of cosmic history: from the Big Bang to the formation of galaxies, stars, and planets to the evolution of our own Solar System.

The science goals for the Webb can be grouped into four themes. The first is to look back around 13.5 billion years to see the first stars and galaxies forming out of the darkness of the early universe. Second, to compare the faintest, earliest galaxies to today’s grand spirals and understand how galaxies assemble over billions of years. Third, to see where stars and planetary systems are being born. And fourth, to observe the atmospheres of extra solar planets (beyond our solar system), and perhaps find the building blocks of life elsewhere in the universe. The telescope will also study objects within our own Solar System.

How JSWT is different from other Telescope

The JWST will be able to see right through and into massive clouds of dust that are opaque to earlier generation visible-light observatories like the Hubble Telescope. Another difference is that the Webb is equipped with cameras and other instruments sensitive to infrared or “heat” radiation, and the Hubble is not.