Beyond Hubble -The Next Generation

Daily Galaxy

www.jwst.nasa.gov...
James Webb telescope:

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will be a large infrared telescope with a 6.5-meter primary mirror. Launch is planned for 2014.

JWST will be the premier observatory of the next decade, serving thousands of astronomers worldwide. It will study every phase in the history of our Universe, ranging from the first luminous glows after the Big Bang, to the formation of solar systems capable of supporting life on planets like Earth, to the evolution of our own Solar System.

JWST was formerly known as the "Next Generation Space Telescope" (NGST). JWST was renamed in Sept. 2002 after a former NASA administrator, James Webb.

JWST is an international collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center is managing the development effort. The prime contractor is Northrop Grumman; the Space Telescope Science Institute will operate JWST after launch.

Several innovative technologies have been developed for JWST. These include a folding, segmented primary mirror, adjusted to shape after launch; ultra-lightweight beryllium optics; detectors able to record extremely weak signals, microshutters that enable programmable object selection for the spectrograph; and a cryocooler for cooling the mid-IR detectors to 7K. The long-lead items, such as the beryllium mirror segments and science instruments, are under construction. All mission enabling technologies were demonstrated by January 2007. In July 2008 NASA confirmed the JWST project to proceed into its implementation phase, and the project is currently on track to conduct its next major mission review in March 2010.

There will be four science instruments on JWST: a near-infrared (IR) camera, a near-IR multi-object spectrograph, a mid-IR instrument, and a tunable filter imager. JWST's instruments will be designed to work primarily in the infrared range of the electromagnetic spectrum, with some capability in the visible range. It will be sensitive to light from 0.6 to 27 micrometers in wavelength.

JWST has four main science themes: The End of the Dark Ages: First Light and Reionization, The Assembly of Galaxies, The Birth of Stars and Protoplanetary Systems, and Planetary Systems and the Origins of Life.

I had to post this because I am so stoked about the launch of this telescope.

It will revolutionize the way we view our universe in the same way that Hubble did, but 10 times more!!

I just thought I would post some information about this because of the new video release about it. The only downside about it is that we will be waiting until 2014.

Any thoughts?

Pred...

[edit on 26-3-2010 by predator0187]

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[edit on Sun Mar 28 2010 by Jbird]

Thats some amazing stuff! i didnt know canada had a space agency!

SQUEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

I can't wait for this to get up and running!

Originally posted by Paladin327
Thats some amazing stuff! i didnt know canada had a space agency!

I've been living in Canada for 8 years and it's the first time I'm hearing about it xD

So, can this telescope like,look into the past or something. That's what the article is making it sond like xD

reply to post by shade454


I live in Canada too, and well we have always had a space agency, that how come the space station has the Canada arm on it.

All telescopes can see into the past, it is the way light works, so yes we will be able to see into the past with the new telescope, just like Hubble but this one will be so much more than Hubble.

Pred...

Originally posted by predator0187
reply to post by shade454

 

I live in Canada too, and well we have always had a space agency, that how come the space station has the Canada arm on it.

All telescopes can see into the past, it is the way light works, so yes we will be able to see into the past with the new telescope, just like Hubble but this one will be so much more than Hubble.

Pred...

Yeah well, I get that looking at something that is 2000 ly away means you're looking at an image of it as it was 2000 years ago.
Would be sweet if we could somehow stumble upon the light from Earth from a few centuries ago, or even millenia. Doubt that's possible though.

Originally posted by shade454

Originally posted by predator0187
reply to post by shade454

 

I live in Canada too, and well we have always had a space agency, that how come the space station has the Canada arm on it.

All telescopes can see into the past, it is the way light works, so yes we will be able to see into the past with the new telescope, just like Hubble but this one will be so much more than Hubble.

Pred...

Yeah well, I get that looking at something that is 2000 ly away means you're looking at an image of it as it was 2000 years ago.
Would be sweet if we could somehow stumble upon the light from Earth from a few centuries ago, or even millenia. Doubt that's possible though.

Unless you have a ship that can jump into warp mode, fly ahead of the light you wish to view. Say you want to look back 1000 years ago. Obviously that light has now travelled 1000 light years through space. So in order to view said light, you need to get ahead of it using a method of FTL. Then you can setup your telescope & capture the incoming light from Earth a thousand years ago.

So unless we manage to invent warp-drives or be able to master wormhole travel, then the best we can hope for it to view light coming in our general direction rather than what's leaving it.