New Age Time Machine: Five Interesting Facts About All-Seeing James Webb Space Telescope | The Weather Channel – Articles from The Weather Channel |…

In the 21st century, humanity is set to take a giant leap towards understanding our universe and its origins while continuing the search for life beyond our home planet.

And this exciting leap would be made possible by the mighty, next-gen cosmic explorerthe James Webb Space Telescope (JWST). Scientists from multiple space agencies, primarily NASA, ESA and CSA, have relentlessly worked for more than a decade to realise this dream. The powerful space telescope JWST is built with a price tag of a whopping $10 billion (Rs 75,000 crores).

JWST is definitely one of the most ambitious projects attempted by scientists and engineers in recent history. It aims to unravel the mysteries around distant celestial bodies while shedding light on the early chapters of our universe.

As we edge closer to the launch date, here are some astounding facts about the JWST.

This illustration depicts Kepler-186f, the first validated Earth-size planet to orbit a distant star in the habitable zone.

The age of space exploration will step into a whole new phase with the unfurling of this telescope! The revolutionary newcomer space observatory is set to hunt exoplanetsplanets outside our solar systemlike never before. So far, we have discovered more than 4,000 exoplanets, and there are estimated to be billions of them in the Milky Way galaxy alone.

It will also enable scientists to learn about various characteristics of exoplanetsfrom their weather, seasons to atmospheric composition and more. One of the biggest advantages of JWST is that it can detect chemical clues of life on the other exotic cosmic worlds.

Besides, the telescope is designed to study the enigmatic cosmic monster lurking in the centre of various galaxiesblack holes. Thanks to its extreme sensitivity to infrared, the telescope could provide crucial clues about supermassive black holes that are billions of light-years away from Earth.

The timeline of the universe.

The telescopes power lies in its long vision! It has been hailed as the time machine that would enable space scientists to witness the perplexing past of our universe that has puzzled them for a long time now.

One of the long-standing mysteries is how the first light originated in the sheer black space after the Big Bang. Astronomers are hoping to take forward their understanding of the first light using the ability of this telescope to look into the past!

Dont be alarmed; the JWST is not supernatural in any way. Its just plain physics that if you see the light from a source thats billions of light-years away, then essentially you see the light emitted so many billions of years ago. Scientists believe James Webb will open the window to get answers to some of these long-lived questions around our universes origins.

JWST is designed to observe infrared lightwavelengths of light that are beyond the rainbow visible to human eyes. Infrared lights longer wavelengths provide information that other wavelengths cannot, including star formation.

Webb views the universe in infrared light. But why infrared? Infrared light is electromagnetic radiation with longer wavelengths than visible light. This particular trait of the telescope would help it look farther back in time more effectively than other telescopes.

Observing in infrared is a bonus because the ultraviolet and visible light emitted by the very first luminous objects from the early universe gets significantly stretched due to the expanding universe. It will help scientists peer into the atmosphere of stars, which is usually shrouded with dust and gas during formation. Infrared light can easily penetrate through such cosmic dust and gas.

JWST's golden mirror.

What makes this telescope so powerful is its mirroras big as a housea product of world-class engineering. Its capability to look back furthest in the cosmos comes from its gigantic three-mirror anastigmat telescope! This is the first time a mirror so large would be launched into space. As per NASA, the large size of the mirror enhances the telescope's sensitivity to capture the finest details like never before.

The Webb's mirror has a diameter of 21.3 feet, allowing it to capture six times more light than the iconic Hubble Telescope.

The primary mirrors of the telescope are plated in 24-karat gold to sharpen their reflection of infrared light. The mirror segments are made of beryllium. It is a light and strong metal that can easily withstand its shape across a range of temperatures.

Webb will orbit the second Lagrange point (L2), 1.5 million kilometres from Earth in the direction away from the Sun.

One of the biggest challenges for the makers of this telescope was to keep Webb's mirror cold. This is because the warm objects give off infrared light originating from very distant objects. Thats why the mirror temperature needs to be around -220C.

The mirrors and the instruments are protected with a 5-layer, tennis court-sized sunshield to provide a cold environment. It will also separate the telescope from the hot spacecraft bus.

Moreover, to maintain this environment, the telescope will orbit in deep space around Lagrange 2, or L2about 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth. Thats why this sun shield is designed to be positioned between the Sun/Earth/Moon and the telescope.

Altogether, the James Webb space telescope is among the very masterpieces that humankind has ever built! If all goes out as planned, the long-awaited successor to the Hubble Space Telescope will usher in a new age of space exploration.

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New Age Time Machine: Five Interesting Facts About All-Seeing James Webb Space Telescope | The Weather Channel - Articles from The Weather Channel |...