The James Webb Space Telescope(Hubbles replacement) question

I'm just curious to know how much more powerful it will be compared to hubble?

I was reading that they found a earth sized planet(5.5 times greater) orbiting around a red dwarf star and I was wondering if the new James Webb Space telescope will be able to detect actual earth like planets the same size as our planet,maybe even tell if it is habitable?

JWST is a precursor to the Terrestrial Planet Finder, as to how much more powerfull it is compared to hubble, I have no idea

It would hope it's capable of detecting Earth Sized planets but if it isn't then unlocking the secrets of Dark Matter would be enough for me

Actually one of it's missions is to unlock the mechanism on how solar systems are formed and I guess it would need to be able to detect anything above say a Mars sized planet in order to actually accomplish this mission. I guess that doesn't really answer your question but I have no idea. Here are some links.

ngst.gsfc.nasa.gov...

As the Terrestrial Planet Finder has been mentioned, here is its website.

I'm not sure I would say JWST is a precursor to TPF though - JWST is a single telescope in orbit, whereas TPF is expected to be 4 telescopes flying in formation, as an inferometer.

Interestingly, as I did a google search to see if I'd spelt inferometer correctly (!), I found that ESA are planning a similar mission to TPF called Darwin.

I was only going by what the JWST site said, that the instruments on board are precursers for the ones that will be on the TPF. I should have been more specific.

i read in discovery magazine about a giant telescope ...or 2


link

www.discover.com...

Unfortunately the James Webb Telescope is an infrared scope. The Hubble Space Telescope is a visable light telescope. It is the one that has been providing all these beautiful images.

Im still really bummed about the decision to let the HST go. Though it may not provide as good research material as something such as the JWT, it was a benefit to all people in general. A great way to introduce and show the beauty and grandeur of our universe to everyone.

Since Nasa budget is limited they should concentrate on the bleedin' edge. Anyway there are ground based optical telescopes coming online soon that are approximately 10 times more precise then Hubble.

The Large Binocular Telescope being one of them.

medusa.as.arizona.edu...

Then the OWL telescope.

www.eso.org...

The 30 Meter Telescope

The Star.com Nasa Article

and so on. We got the Visible spectrum covered here on the ground. The future if space telescopes is in the non-visible areas of the spectrum and even the non-optical kind as well like Gravitational wave detectors.

[edited oversized link to restore page format -nygdan]

[edit on 31-1-2006 by Nygdan]

Originally posted by sardion2000
Anyway there are ground based optical telescopes coming online soon that are approximately 10 times more precise then Hubble.

Thank God for Adaptive Optics!

While there are ground based one, even with the adaptive optics, you still cant see past clouds, and have to deal with alot more light issues. Besides, no ground based telescope has ever seen anything like this:

This is from the first light test of the Binocular Telescope. Also the Binocular Telescope can also take stereo shots of stars(depending on their distance)[url=http://medusa.as.arizona.edu/lbto/FL/Color/n891_1440x972.jpg][/url ]

Click on photo for larger version.

Alot better then Hubbles first light ain't it

[edit on 30-1-2006 by sardion2000]

Originally posted by Xibalba
Besides, no ground based telescope has ever seen anything like this:

I was beaten to it, only by a moment...

[edit on 1/30/2006 by cmdrkeenkid]