Category Archives: Hubble Telescope

Irish eyes were focused on the skies on Christmas Eve, not in the hope of spotting Santa or a stray reindeer, but rather at one of the biggest space launches in recent years the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST, or simply Webb), the next great space science observatory following the famous Hubble Telescope. The Webb telescope will now reside one-and-a-half million kilometres from Earth, hovering in line with our planet as it orbits the Sun.

ver 25 years in development, the Webb telescope aims to answer more questions about the development of the Universe than ever before, with the ability to look back 13.5 billion years in time to observe the birth of the first galaxies and the lifecycle of stars and exoplanets. This major breakthrough is the result of an international project led by NASA with its partners the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) with two Irish companies and an Irish research institute playing significant roles in the development of the Webbs scientific instruments and in its launch into space.

Webb follows the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope in the line of great space observatories. Both have different scientific capabilities and will operate in parallel, complementing each other, for several years.

In fact, the Webb has the capacity to do far more than the Hubble, as it has over six times the light-gathering capacity and is a hundred times more sensitive, with the ability to peer through clouds of dust by capturing light in the infrared part of the spectrum. By looking back to the early Universe using infrared detectors, Webb hopes to answer some vital questions about the formation of our Universe, the make-up of so-called dark matter, and how the development of galaxies can tell us about the future of the Universe.

There was significant Irish input into the development of the infrared detector technology. Professor Tom Ray of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS) was Co-Principal Investigator for the Mid-InfraRed Instrument (MIRI) on Webb, which will produce images and spectra with unprecedented sharpness and sensitivity. Professor Ray and his team from DIAS also provided MIRIs infrared filters, which break up the light into its various components, and imaging software that will analyse the instrument data sent back to Earth and produce scientific images.

Upon completion, Webb was carefully transported to ESAs spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, where it was launched on Christmas Day on an Ariane 5 launcher. Here, an Irish company played a major role: Raltra Space Systems Engineering designed and manufactured the video imaging system onboard the Ariane 5 launch vehicle, which gave us impressive high-definition video images of the separation of the launchers fairing and separation of the telescope itself. The final images of Webb moving into space on Christmas Day came from Raltras technology. Interestingly, Raltras system was originally designed for the Ariane 6 launch vehicle, which is due its first flight in the second half of 2022.

A second Irish company, Nammo Ireland, provided structural supports for the Vulcain engine that powers Ariane 5 and will be involved in producing components for both the Vulcain and Vinci engines on the new Ariane 6 launch vehicle.

The vital roles played by these Irish entities in the development of this huge space project were enabled by Irelands membership of ESA, which is managed through the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Enterprise Ireland supports and guides Irish companies and research institutes in developing technologies through ESA programmes, and in commercialising these technologies in the worldwide space market, with over 100 companies supported to date.

The success of these companies in this ground-breaking project underlines the growth in opportunities in the commercial space market for innovative Irish companies with exciting technologies that can also be used in many different sectors, such as automotive and medical. These opportunities will only become more plentiful as our understanding of space grows and develops and we are confident more Irish companies will be involved in such thrilling projects in the future.

Bryan Rogers is the Enterprise Irelanddelegate to the European Space Agency.

More here:
Irish innovation helps to drive exciting space mission - Independent.ie

Striding across the sky this month is the giant figure of Orion, a familiar pattern of seven bright stars. According to ancient Greek tales, Orion was the most handsome man on Earth, with the power to walk over water. Armed with a mighty club and a massive sword, his greatest joy was hunting, and he boasted he would kill every creature on Earth.

Listening in to his words was the Earth-goddess Gaia. Appalled by this threaten of mass extinction, Gaia sent a scorpion to end Orions life by stinging his ankle. The gods honoured Orion by placing him among the stars. His nemesis was also elevated to the skies, but at a safe distance so that we see Orion during the winter, and the scorpion (the constellation Scorpius) in the summer time.

Orions Belt is marked by a line of three brilliant stars. Two stars above including blood-red Betelgeuse depict Orions shoulders, while a matching pair of stars below pick out the bottom of his tunic. Look carefully below the Belt, and youll spot a faint star representing Orions sword. Scrutinise it on really dark clear night, and youll see its actually a tiny faint glowing cloud.

Small and dim it may look in our skies, but thats just due its immense distance: in reality, the Orion Nebula is vast seething maelstrom of incandescent gas, 24 light years in diameter. Through a telescope you can make out its swirls of gas, though our eyes are not sensitive enough to see any colours other than greyish green. The discerning eye of the Hubble Space Telescope reveals a cosmic butterfly, gaudy in the red light from hydrogen gas and the green tinge of oxygen atoms.

These gases are usually invisible, but here the atoms are being energised by the radiation from extraordinarily hot stars. Chief among these cosmic firebrands is a star known only by its catalogue number, Theta-1 C1. Its 40 times heavier than the Sun, with a temperature of 40,000C, and shines 210,000 times more brightly than our star,.

Theta-1 C1 and its brightest neighbours are massive young stars, recently born from a dense cloud of gas and dust. The Orion Nebula is the tattered wreckage of their maternity ward, blasted apart by the energetic infant stars within.

These cosmic thugs have some 3,000 siblings, stars born at the same time, but smaller, fainter and less disruptive. The penetrating gaze of the Hubble telescope has revealed that many of the stars are girdled by dense discs of gas and dust, whirling around in the central stars gravity. Each of these proplyds is the size of our solar system, and is a new system of planets in formation around its own sun.

And thats just the beginning of the Orion Nebulas secrets. Behind the young stars, planets and hot glowing gas theres a vast dark cloud of cold, black dust and gas. Its called the Orion Molecular Cloud, and its replete with exotic chemical compounds, molecules that would be the envy of any well-stocked chemistry lab. Pungent ammonia, bad-eggs hydrogen sulphide, and the mothballs stench of naphthalene all mingle together, along with poisonous molecules of cyanide and copious quantities of alcohol.

Under the force of gravity, the dark material in the Orion Molecular Cloud is curdling into hundreds of individual fragments. One day, they too will become new stars, firing up the Orion Nebula to even more splendour.

While in western mythology Orion the hunter represented death and destruction, to the Mayan civilisation the lower part of the constellation, centred on the Orion Nebula, was seen as the Hearth of Creation. Astrophysics shows that they had it right all along.

Whats up

The year opens with a planetary party, low in the southwest as the sky grows dark. Right on the horizon lies brilliant Venus. To its upper left, youll find fainter Mercury, then Saturn and at the end of the line giant Jupiter, second in brightness only to Venus. Its all happening in the twilight glow, around 5pm, and binoculars will give you the best chance of spotting our neighbouring worlds.

All these planets have set by 8pm, and the night sky is dominated by the familiar outline of Orion, the great hunter (see main story). Follow the line of Orions Belt to the lower left and youll find Sirius, the brightest star in the sky. Also known as the Dog Star, its the jewel in the crown of Canis Major (the Great Dog). Above lies its slightly fainter litter-mate, Procyon, in the constellation of the Little Dog (Canis Minor).

The night sky at around 10 pm this month

(Nigel Henbest)

Higher still are the twin stars of Gemini, Castor and Pollux. And almost overhead, youll find Capella: the stars name means the little nanny goat, though oddly enough its in the constellation of the Charioteer (Auriga). Sweeping down to the lower right, reddish Aldebaran marks the eye of Taurus, the Bull, with the lovely little star cluster of the Pleiades (the Seven Sisters) lying nearby.

By the end of January, the starry display remains much the same, but the planets have seriously shifted around. Only Jupiter is visible in the evening sky. Mercury and Saturn have disappeared into the Suns glare. And Venus has swung between the Earth and the Sun, and is now visible in the morning sky, accompanying Mars. The Red Planet lies to the right of the Morning Star, and is 250 times fainter.

Diary

6 January: Moon near Jupiter

7 January: Mercury at greatest elongation east

9 January, 6.11pm: First Quarter Moon

12 January: Moon near the Pleiades

13 January: Moon near Aldebaran

17 January, 11.48pm: Full Moon near Castor and Pollux

19 January: Moon near Regulus

20 January: Moon near Regulus

23 January: Moon near Spica

24 January: Moon near Spica

25 January, 1.41pm: Last Quarter Moon

Philips 2022 Stargazing (Philips 6.99) by Nigel Henbest reveals everything thats going on in the sky this year

Read more:
Stargazing in January: Orion strides across the night sky - The Independent

Women scientists in the 1950s and 1960s faced discouragement from school counselors, hostility from professors and discrimination in the workplace. Good thing some, like NASA's Nancy Grace Roman, ignored it all.

Roman was NASA's first chief of astronomy, man or woman. She earned the title in 1960, after joining the agency in 1959. She was also its first female executive. She's best known as the mother of the Hubble telescope. And last year, NASA announced it was naming its new wide field infrared survey telescope (WFIRST) in honor of Roman as the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope. It is scheduled to launch in 2027.

Her love of exploration, and goal of dedicating her life to it, blasted past petty politics and blatant sexism. "If you enjoy puzzles, science or engineering may be the field for you," Roman told an interviewer. "Scientific research ... is a continuous series of solving puzzles."

Roman's journey shows how to thwart discrimination by jumping jobs when necessary and building your profile. And her success at NASA demonstrates that leadership is about excellence and persistence. It isn't a popularity contest.

Roman hired Dr. Ed Weiler, NASA's retired associate administrator for science, in his first job at the agency. Weiler told Investor's Business Daily that Roman commanded respect and was a born leader. "When she told you to do something, you did it," he said. "She was tough. And if you didn't like her, she couldn't care less."

Roman's career in astronomy spanned decades she spent 21 years at NASA. She passed away in 2018 at the age of 93. But her legacy of telescope and satellite launches, and the resulting breakthroughs in astronomical science, lives on here on earth and in the skies above.

Roman's father was a scientist. But her mother, a music teacher, inspired her love of astronomy by showing her the night sky. "She showed me the constellations and the auroras," Roman told an interviewer.

At just 11 years old,Romanformed an astronomy club with her school classmates to study the constellations.By high school she knew she wanted to pursue a career in astronomy."I knew itwas going to take me another 12 years of schooling, but I figured I'd try and if I didn't make it, I could teach physics or math," she said.

Others didn't agree with Roman's choice, including women. In high school she asked her guidance counselor for permission to take a second year of algebra, instead of a fifth year of Latin. "She looked down her nose at me, sneered (and said) 'What lady would take mathematics instead of Latin?' " Roman said.

Things didn't get easier when she attendedSwarthmore College. Roman said the dean of women was hostile toward women pursuing science: "If you insisted on majoring in science or engineering, she wouldn't have anything more to do with you."

After Swarthmore, in 1946 she went to the University of Chicago for graduate studies in astronomy.In1949,she received her Ph.D. in astronomy.

During her career, Roman faced more sexism. She'd sometimes use the prefix "Dr." with her name because "otherwise, I couldn't get past the secretaries."

After receiving her Ph.D., Roman continued her research at the University of Chicago as a research associate and then later an assistant professor. But there were two problems with the position. "I didn't think I could get tenure as a research astronomer (due to sexism)," she said. "(And) I like teaching very much, but I didn't want to dojustteaching."

So, in 1954, she went around the glass ceiling instead of trying to smash through it. Roman took a position at the Naval Research Laboratory in radio astronomy. She studied the structure of the Milky Way. While at NRL, she spoke at a number of events around the world.

Another power move for her career: Be visible. Those speeches upped her recognition among the astronomy community in the U.S., including NASA.

"She was really a pretty amazing individual she liked science and she liked to get things done," said Neta Bahcall, the Eugene Higgins Professor of Astronomy atPrinceton University.

Roman quickly gained respect at NASA. She worked on a number of projects, including the development of several orbiting observatories. And during that first year the idea of a space telescope was considered. That type of telescope was first proposed in 1946 in a paper by Princeton astronomer Lyman Spitzer.

Roman began building the base for Hubble early in her career at NASA. And she picked up a number of tips.

First, give astronomy lectures around the U.S. Find out what other astronomers want to study. Many astronomers were resistant to space-based astronomy. Roman worked to convince them of the advantages of observing the skies from above the Earth's murky atmosphere. She also showed them the benefits of a NASA-based space astronomy program, vs. one controlled by a single university or research organization.

Second, take input to gain more advocates. In 1971, Roman set up the Science Steering Group for the Hubble Space Telescope. It was named after Edwin Hubble, an astronomer who in the 1920s discovered galaxies beyond ours. She tapped both NASA engineers and astronomers from across the country to serve on it.

Third, listen to ideas but discard the bad ones. Roman figured out how to do that without alienating too many scientists. Part of her work on Hubble was to reject design ideas she and other NASA scientists found impractical. One bad idea? A moon-based telescope (too much dust) or a manned space telescope (too much wobble).

Lastly, get astronomers outside of NASA to convince Congress to fund Hubble. Funding sparked the most powerful space telescope the world had ever seen.

Roman was also responsible for ending NASA projects that weren't viable. "She was a no-nonsense person, very blunt and honest," said Bahcall, whose husband, John, was one of the astronomers who lobbied Congress to fund Hubble. "She canceled some missions (and) did what she thought was right, and I greatly admired her for that."

Hubble launched in April 1990, well after Roman left NASA. After some adjustments, Hubble produced astounding images. The most famous is the first deep field study by astronomer Robert Williams from theSpace Telescope Science Institute. The landmark image, which includes 342 separate exposurestakenover 10 days in 1995, shows in detail the vast diversity of the universe, including thousands of galaxies.

"The Hubble deep field image is probably one of the most important pictures ever taken," said Weiler. "Thousands of astronomers to date owe their careers to the Hubble telescope data and they owe that debt of gratitude to Nancy Roman."

In 1980, Roman retired from NASA to care for her elderly mother. But her retirement was short-lived. She studied programming, then took a consulting job to develop astronomical catalogs.

She went back to work at NASA in 1995. And she became head of its astronomical data center at Goddard Space Flight Center.In 1997, she retired from NASA again, then taught science to junior high and high school students, as well as K-12 science teachers.

After that, she recorded astronomical textbooks for the blind and dyslexic. And she lectured at many schools. "I like to talk to children about the advantages of going into science and particularly to tell the girls, by showing them my life, that they can be scientists and succeed."

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How NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Blasted Past Men Standing In Her Way - Investor's Business Daily

A new Hubble Space Telescope image of a spiral galaxy shows sparkling stars, including a couple that snuck into the foreground.

The telescope captured UGC 11537, a galaxy 230 million light-years away in the constellation Aquila; the galaxy sits at almost 10 times the distance to the spectacular Andromeda Galaxy (M31) that is just barely visible by the naked eye in Earth's sky.

Because UGC 11537 is close to the plane of the Milky Way where most of our galaxy's stars reside, two starry interlopers closer to home snuck into the image, the European Space Agency stated in late November.

Related: The best Hubble Space Telescope images of all time!

"The spikes surrounding these stars are imaging artifacts, called diffraction spikes. They are the result of starlight interacting with the structure that supports Hubbles secondary mirror," ESA added in its description.

The spiral galaxy's image came during a larger search for supermassive black holes embedded in the heart of these star structures. The study is using Hubble, along with observations from ground-based telescopes, to measure the mass and motions of stars in galaxies like UGC 11537. These metrics will help estimate the mass of the supermassive black holes, ESA said.

Hubble's image came courtesy of data from its Wide Field Camera 3. On Oct. 26, a synchronization error sidelined the camera and other Hubble instruments and put the 31-year-old observatory into safe mode. Engineers adapted the observatory's schedule and carefully put each instrument back online, completing the process on Monday (Dec. 6).

A successor telescope to Hubble, called the James Webb Space Telescope, is expected to fly to space on Dec. 22 after years of technical and funding delays. Since Hubble is expected to keep operating well into the 2020s, the two observatories will work together on at least some investigations in the coming years, according to NASA.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter@howellspace. Follow us on Twitter@Spacedotcomor onFacebook.

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Hubble telescope shows the sparkling side of a spiral galaxy - Space.com

The James Webb Space Telescope, NASAs most powerful telescope, is scheduled to be rocketed into orbit no earlier than December 22. 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.

Here we explore some of the major differences between Webb and the Hubble Telescope.

Wavelength

The James Webb Space Telescope, carrying four scientific instruments, will observe primarily in the infrared range and provide coverage from 0.6 to 28 microns. The instruments on Hubble see mainly in the ultraviolet and visible part of the spectrum. It could observe only a small range in the infrared from 0.8 to 2.5 microns.

The infrared region of the electromagnetic spectrum covers the wavelength range from approximately 0.7 to a few 100 microns.

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Size comparisons

Webbs primary mirror has a diameter of 6.5 metres. Hubbles mirror was much smaller 2.4 metres in diameter. So, Webb will have a larger field of view compared to the camera on Hubble.

Webb also carries a large sun shield measuring about 22 metres by 12 metres about the size of a tennis court.

Orbit

Hubble orbits around the Earth at an altitude of ~570 km. Webb will not orbit the Earth. It will orbit the sun at about 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth. As the Earth orbits the Sun, Webb will orbit with it but it will stay fixed in the same spot with relation to the Earth and the Sun.

How far will Webb see?

NASA says, Hubble can see the equivalent of toddler galaxies and Webb Telescope will be able to see baby galaxies. Webbs near- and mid-infrared instruments will help study the first formed galaxies, exoplanets and birth of stars.

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, Herschels mirror is smaller than Webbs. It is 3.5 metres in diameter, while Webbs primary mirror has a diameter of 6.5 metres.

See more here:
Explained: Differences between Webb and Hubble telescopes - The Indian Express

The recent NASA Hubble Telescope picture showed a mini-jet in the center of a massive black hole called Sagittarius A*.

In relation to this, SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched the NASA IXPE, which aims to further investigate black holes and neutron stars.

In a recent Hubble Twitter post, the space telescope showed evidence of a mini-jet ejecting material from the Mily Way galaxy's core black hole, which "hiccups" regularly when stars and gas clouds fall into it.

In addition to this,NASA released a blog postexplaining that our Milky Way's central black hole has a leak.

Space.comadded that the Milky Way's supermassive black hole is called Sagittarius A* (Sgr A*). Additionally, it is almost 4 million times more massive than our Sun. Its gravitational pull is powerful enough to drag surrounding stars and gas clouds into its accretion disk.

Some of the material falling into the black hole is subsequently superheated and ejected from the black hole in the form of narrow beams known as jets.

Several thousand years ago, the leftovers of the "blowtorch-like jet" were discovered. However, the Hubble Space Telescope was not able to picture the jet directly.

According to NASA's blog post, studies from the satellite telescope uncovered evidence that implies a brilliant cloud of hydrogen surrounding the black hole was impacted by an explosive outburst.

Moreover, the said outburst is thought to be an outflowing jet of material that regularly blasts into space, as materials from the Milky Way's central black hole collide with neighboring gas clouds.

The space agency further explained that when the jet moves out from the black hole, it collides with the hydrogen cloud and interacts with the gas. Through this, it forms several streams of expanding bubbles that reach roughly 500 light-years into the Galactic halo.

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Furthermore, co-author of the study and a researcher at Tsukuba University in Japan Alex Wagner stated that the streams penetrate the Milky Way's thick gas disk.

"Like an octopus, the jet diverges from a pencil beam into tentacles," Wagner stated inNASA's blog post.

For background information, Hubble and other telescopes have previously discovered evidence that the Milky Way's black hole experienced an outburst approximately 2-4 million years ago.

That said discovery was powerful enough to build a massive pair of gamma-ray-emitting bubbles towering above our galaxy.

As previously reported, the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched the NASA IXPE, a satellite and space telescope that can study black holes and neutron stars.

Moreover, scientists expect that NASA IXPE will give them a new tool to probe the mysteries of the cosmos.

Aside from this, the NASA Hubble Space Telescope will also be joined by a new observatory tool.

Since the NASA Hubble Space Telescope has existed for more than 30 years,its successor James Webb Space Telescope is set to be launched soon.

According to several reports, this satellite telescope will be more powerful than Hubble and it would be equipped with cutting-edge technology.

To be clear, the James Webb Space Telescope will not replace the Hubble Space Telescope since these two space telescopes employ various technologies that might aid researchers and scientists even more.

Related Article: NASA Hubble Picture Shows Epic Cosmic Photobomb in Milky Way [PHOTOS]

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NASA Hubble Telescope Picture Shows Stunning Discovery in Massive Black Hole: What Is That Mini-Jet? - iTech Post

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 |...

This serene cloud of gas belies a lot of activity deep within the nebula.

NGC 6891 glows brightly in a new image from the Hubble Space Telescope, as the observatory assists scientists in learning more about how these gas clouds formed and evolved.

Astronomers call NGC 6891 a "planetary nebula," a term arising from an old misidentification with planets back when telescope technology was in its infancy. Today we know that such nebulas form after supernova explosions that see huge stars shed gas. A white dwarf remnant of the star remains behind, slowly cooling.

Related: The best Hubble Space Telescope images of all time!

The Hubble Space Telescope's high-definition imagery revealed knots and filaments wrapped around the white dwarf embedded deep within the cloud. The data also shows that the outer halo of gas is expanding faster than the innermost part of the nebula, and the observations even catch shells of gas that are oriented in different directions.

"From their motions, astronomers estimate that one of the shells is 4,800 years old while the outer halo is some 28,000 years old, indicating a series of outbursts from the dying star at different times," NASA officials wrote in a statement.

The glowing from NGC 6891 occurs as the white dwarf stars ionizes, or strips away electrons, from the surrounding hydrogen gas.

"As the energized electrons revert from their higher-energy state to a lower-energy state by recombining with the hydrogen nuclei, they emit energy in the form of light, causing the nebulas gas to glow," NASA said.

Hubble is currently in recovery from a synchronization glitch that occured on Oct. 23 and its instruments are slowly being brought back online. Hubble was last serviced in person in 2009 and with the retirement of the space shuttle, is no longer accessible to astronauts. That said, the 31-year-old telescope has plenty of archival data to process.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter@howellspace. Follow us on Twitter@Spacedotcomor onFacebook.

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Hubble telescope spots a complex cloud of gas expanding into space - Space.com

As she woke on a clear, cold March morning in Montreal, Lisa Dang felt the weight of the pandemic bearing down on her.

It had been a long, hard year since the first lockdowns began, there was no end in sight, and she was deeply troubled by the news a few days earlier of six Asian women being shot to death in Atlanta, a symptom of rising anti-Asian sentiment during the pandemic.

Dang, a 28-year-old PhD candidate at McGill University, is an astronomer. She studies exoplanets planets that orbit other stars. For the past year, she had been working at home, locked down, like all her colleagues, because of the pandemic.

On this day, with all that weighing on her mind, she had to get out. She grabbed her coat, said goodbye to her boyfriend and left her downtown apartment to take a walk and clear her head.

An hour later, her phone began to buzz. Her inbox was flooded with emails. And one of the messages she read there would change her life forever.

Across the world that day, at about the same time, thousands of other astronomers were wading through the same torrent of emails.

But only Dang and a select few colleagues would be among the first to scan the universe with the latest, greatest observational tool the world has ever seen.

The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is set to launch in late December. The long-delayed, $10-billion multinational project promises to open the universe to scientists as it never has been before.

Itll settle in orbit around the sun 1.5 million kilometres away from Earth, four times further from the planet than the Moon.

The successor to the famed Hubble telescope, the Webb telescope will be 100 times more powerful, thanks primarily to a mirror thats 6.25 times larger in area. Its designed to observe in infrared, which will not only better equip it to see objects in the furthest reaches of the universe but will also allow it to pierce through veils of cosmic dust that often obscure visible light.

Across the globe, astronomers are salivating at the prospect of peering back through time to the near-dawn of the universe, of scrutinizing planets around other stars that just might possess the same building blocks of life as ours, of gazing into the hearts of galaxies hundreds of light-years away to see how stars are born.

In an alleyway in Montreal, a block from her apartment, Dang, disbelieving, read the email over and over again.

I think I was more stunned than happy at that moment, she says.

Immediately, I started FaceTiming my boyfriend. And the first thing that came out when he picked up was just tears, so he was unsure whether or not I was happy, or if it was some kind of mental breakdown.

Of the nearly 1,200 proposals received from 44 countries around the world, only 286 had been selected for time on the JWST, and only 10 of those with Canadians as principal investigators.

Dangs proposal was to study suspected lava planet K2-141b, closely orbiting a star some 200 light-years away. The planets proximity to its star means it is likely to have a molten rock surface and a rock vapour atmosphere the kind of place where it might rain liquid rock and snow rock particles. It was the first proposal shed ever had accepted as a principal investigator.

Even just getting time to use the Hubble Space Telescope is a huge deal for any astronomer, she says. For me, personally, this is a big deal, because for the first time, I felt like an astronomer ... I cant believe that my first proposal is a James Webb Space Telescope proposal.

For a 28-year-old PhD candidate, it was the rough astronomical equivalent of an NHL rookie having a 50-goal season.

Across the country from Dang, in Victoria, B.C., Erik Rosolowsky was waiting at a B&B for his family to get ready to go for a walk along the coast.

Rosolowsky, an associate professor of physics at the University of Alberta, had driven there from Edmonton with his family for March break.

I shouldnt have been checking my email because I was on vacation, he said. But I did ... and I was just flabbergasted.

Rosolowsky had, four months prior, submitted a proposal to use the Webb telescope to photograph the formation of stars in the spiral arms of a distant galaxy. Hed thought at the time his proposal had little chance of being chosen.

He was wrong.

He reread the email, sure that it was a mistake. As a scientist who had been on review panels, receiving proposals like his, he knew how fierce the competition was to even get time on existent telescopes, let alone be among the first to use the JWST.

With his son tarrying inside the B&B, Rosolowsky stepped outside to try and absorb just what was happening to him. He pondered how wildly different his life had become over the span of a few short moments.

This is the kind of thing that changes what youre going to be doing for the next several years, he says now. Were going to have this great opportunity to be the first people to use the Webb. This is where the great discoveries in the next few years in astrophysics are going to come from.

Then he went inside and told his wife. She was happy for him, he says. And then scolded him for checking his email on vacation.

But Dang and Rosolowsky and researchers like them arent celebrating just yet.

Theyre still holding their collective breaths because the telescope on which they have pinned their hopes has not left the ground.

It sits right now at a European Space Agency spaceport in French Guiana having travelled there from California via the Panama Canal awaiting a scheduled launch date of Dec. 22.

When deployed, the JWST will be the largest, most powerful space telescope ever built.

With its extended reach, it will let astronomers probe back in time to an era only a few hundred million years after the Big Bang itself just after what astronomers call the Dark Age when the first stars began to appear, a time of which we know relatively little.

In those distant reaches, light has been travelling toward us for more than 13 billion years. What astronomers see is a snapshot of what the universe looked like when that light started its journey. The more distant objects we can observe, the further back in time we can see.

The JWSTs primary mirror which is primarily responsible for that extended reach is 6.5 metres in diameter, and made up of 18 hexagonal pieces, each made of beryllium thinly coated with gold, and each individually adjustable. That puts the honeycomb-shaped surface area of the mirror at 25 square metres, about six times that of the Hubble telescope.

That bigger mirror means much higher resolution images of the universe, but what also sets JWST apart from the Hubble, is that its designed to see in infrared, that longer-wavelength portion of the light spectrum thats invisible to the human eye.

This has a few advantages. One is that infrared can pierce through the haze of cosmic dust better than visible light, enabling astronomers to gain clearer images of the bowels of the universe. Another is that they are able to study objects that may be too dim to study in visible light a lava planet for example.

A third advantage has to do with the fabric of space itself.

When astronomers are looking at the furthest reaches of the universe, they are looking at light which has been travelling towards them for millions or billions of years. While that light has been travelling, the universe itself has been expanding. And one of the consequences of that expansion is that the very space through which the light has been travelling has been stretched also.

When that happens, wavelengths become longer think of a Slinky being stretched and light becomes red-shifted what started out as visible light moves toward the red end of the spectrum. And that makes an infrared telescope the ideal instrument to probe the extremes of the universe.

By studying the amount that a particular object has red-shifted, astronomers can gain an idea of its distance relative to us. And by gauging its distance, they can tell how far back in time they are looking.

But to properly observe such faint sources, the JWST has to be isolated from other sources, namely the heat from the sun and Earth, which shows up in infrared. Hence its position in orbit around the sun 1.5 million kilometres from Earth.

The telescope will orbit whats called a Lagrange point, an area of space where the gravitational pull of the Earth and sun balance the orbit of the telescope, keeping it in a relatively stable position with respect to the Earth.

When it arrives there, the JWST will spend three months cooling to the ambient temperature of space.

But even that distance and time is not enough.

The Webb has a huge sunshield about the size of a tennis court made of five layers of a lightweight, heat- and cold-resistant material called Kapton, which has a reflective metallic coating. The sunshield acts as a parasol, always oriented between the sun and Earth and the telescope.

Engineers estimate that while temperatures on the sun side of the shield could rise as high as 85 C, the telescope, in the shade, would still remain at -233 C.

But the size of the sunshield and the telescope comes at a price: its too large to fit into any rockets we have, and it has to be folded like a giant metallic origami for its launch from Earth.

James Webb Space Telescope Stats

5 to 10 years

Mission duration

Dec. 22, 2021 07:20 EST

Proposed launch date

Ariane 5 rocket

Launch vehicle

Kourou, French Guiana

Launch site

Total payload mass:

Approx 6200 kg, including observatory, on-orbit consumables and launch vehicle adapter.

Orbit:

1.5 million km from Earth orbiting the L2 Point

Wavelength coverage:

Near- and mid-infrared light

-233.2 C

Operating temperature

25 m

Mirror collecting area

18

Number of primary mirror segments

Primary mirror mass:

20.1 kg for a single beryllium mirror, 39.48 kg for one entire primary mirror segment assembly (PMSA).

Primary mirror material:

beryllium coated with gold

705 kg

Mass of primary mirror

25 m

Clear aperture of primary Mirror

21.2 m 14.6 m

Sunshield dimensions

And that means, immediately after launch, it has to go through an elaborate two-week unfolding and assembly process, one that will have scientists and engineers chewing at their fingernails as it unfurls. And the stakes are, well, astronomical, since, unlike the Hubble, the JWST will be too distant for repairs once its launched.

Its going to be what I call the 14 days of terror, says Ren Doyon, whos the scientific director of the JWST in Canada. Doyon, a professor at the Universit de Montral, will be in French Guiana for the launch. Hes been working toward that moment for the past 20 years.

This is arguably the most complex machine that humanity has ever built. And were going to send it 1.5 million kilometres from Earth.

Canada has contributed two instruments to the JWST: a Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) and the Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (NIRISS).

The FGS targets a series of stars as a reference points and, measuring their positions 16 times per second, uses them to keep the telescope pointed at its target. Its so accurate, says Doyon, that it can detect the telescope being off target by the equivalent of the width of a human hair at a distance of a kilometre.

The NIRISS, which observes infrared wavelengths, also includes a spectrograph, which allows astronomers to look at the atmospheres of planets, to determine whether there are traces of gases such as oxygen, carbon dioxide or methane which might indicate the possibility that life might exist on those planets.

Both of those instruments, a labour of years for Doyon and the Canadian Space Agency, fit into a compact cuboid which belies its importance.

Its the greatest team effort ever ... to build this incredible machine, says Doyon. Its not much bigger than a washing machine, but what a heck of a washing machine.

For now, that washing machine, and its associated telescope are at rest at a spaceport just north of the equator in South America.

If it launches on schedule, after its one-month journey, after its deployment and calibration, it will be about six months before the first JWST research images arrive on Earth.

And that is what researchers are holding their breath for.

The celebration will be actually seeing the science come through, says Rosolowsky.

Were nerds, right? So when those first images end up getting delivered and we see the first view of these galaxies using Webb thats the treat.

Nobody has seen this before. And having that moment where you have an answer that you get to share with the world ... thats really exciting.

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Worlds most powerful space telescope will let researchers look back in time. This Canadian astronomer will be among its first users - Toronto Star

Scientists in the US have created the worlds smallest camera - the same size as a single grain of salt!

Oh, how I wish that piece of equipment had been available on Tuesday when I went for a colonoscopy.

Might be wrong, dear reader, but Im sure they examined my bahookie with the Hubble telescope. Two days later and Im STILL walking about like Groucho Marx

Ive very grateful, though, especially at the time of a global pandemic. Listen, at a charity event I hosted last week, the top prize in the raffle was a doctors appointment.

I had a wee scare with my Simon Cowells two years ago the poo test at the time of my 50th birthday revealed traces of blood and I was whisked into hospital where they removed four polyps (theres a word Ill never forget).

This week, the very talented Dr Simon Dover - oh, how I wish his parents had called him Ben - zapped one tiny polyp and gave me a clean bill of health (well, notwithstanding my varicose veins and morbid obesity).

And you know what? I make absolutely no apology for putting you off your breakfast by writing about the inner workings of my posterior as I simply want to remind every single Daily Record reader: GET YOURSELF CHECKED!

A free bowel screening test is available to everyone in Scotland from the age of 50 and, as I learned from my little episode in 2019, it could save your life.

So, at the risk of repeating myself: GET YOURSELF CHECKED!

To be honest, the colonoscopy was easy-peasy. As one of my pals joked, you only have to worry if the doc says Look - no hands!

Another wisecracker suggested I should lighten the mood by secreting plastic toys and Dinky cars up my bum.

I also loved the patter from a couple of (ahem) well-wishers on my Instagram page.

All the best, said Steve Inness, just put it behind you and, on the hole, you should be fine.

And I laughed out loud when a fella called Blair Allan dubbed me The Sultan of Broon-Eye.

Sure, even under anaesthetic, the procedure was a wee bit sore - reminiscent of the time I caught my willy in my zip (after that eye-watering experience, ladies, I went back to wearing shoes with laces).

But if laughter really is the best medicine, I knew Id be fine when I spotted the sign above the door that read Endoscopy Procedure Area - No Unauthorised Access

I hope so!!!

Tell you what, though, I wasnt laughing the day before my colonoscopy when I had to clear out my system with TWO LITRES of laxative.

Laugh? I was terrified to cough!

My panto pal Johnny Mac - brilliant as Buttons alongside Elaine C Smith in the Kings Theatre, Glasgow, production of Cinderella - reckons that opening night is the best laxative in the world.

Aye right. Hes clearly never tried the stuff they give you before a colonoscopy.

Its called MoviPrep (orange flavour, allegedly) and, boy-oh-boy, it could put Slimfast out of business.

My advice? Make sure youre never more than TWO FEET from a toilet pan.

Anyway, wont go into too much detail (Youre too late! - Ed) but, if I can use a Christmas turkey analogy, youre good to go when the juices run clear

After Dr Dover had worked his magic, I was picked up at the hospital by my wife - having gone 24 hours without food and still woozy from the anaesthetic, I was unsteadier on my feet than Celtic striker Kyogo - and, absolutely STARVING, we drove straight to one of my favourite restaurants (Little Soho in Glasgow) for a double cheeseburger & chips.

I actually fancied a curry but, after two litres of MoviPrep, itll be at least another fortnight before I go anywhere near a vindaloo

PS. One more time, ladies and gentlemen GET YOURSELF CHECKED!

Good news for all us Coronation Street fans - the legendary Roy Cropper is making his comeback on the cobbles at Christmas.

After signing everything over to his niece Nina, regular viewers feared the cafe owner was away to South America for good

Nah, no chance. Hed never be able to stand the heat in that anorak

Enjoyed a terrific night at the Whitehall Theatre in Dundee last Friday hosting An Evening with Harry Redknapp.

The football legend and former King of the Jungle on Im A Celeb was in top form - the audience absolutely loved him - and Ill share just a couple of his great stories.

After signing Paul Merson - a player with serious drugs, drink and gambling issues - he promised Harry hed get in shape and got permission to spend two weeks at Tony Adams rehabilitation clinic in Hertfordshire.

A fortnight later, Merson returned to the club - with a suntan!

Hed gone to Barbados for a fortnight

Never one to shy away from controversy, I also asked Harry about his pet dog Rosie - as you may recall, he famously opened a Monaco bank account in her name which led police to his secret bungs.

Shes no longer with us, said Harry.

What happened to her? I asked.

And to howls from the audience, he smiled and said: I shot her - she knew too much

Karl Marx is an historically famous figure, but nobody ever mentions his sister, Onya, who invented the starter pistol.

Single malt whisky is set to triple in price next year due to the worst supply chain crisis in the industrys history.

So let me get this straight - youll pay treble, but still only see double?

Seems unfair, eh?

PS. Staying with food & drink, heres a fascinating query I received last week: is there a chip shop in Scotland that sells SQUARE sausage suppers???

We all love a sausage supper in this country - nearly as much as we love our famous square-sliced.

So how come nobody (as far as Im aware) has combined the two?

I reckon theres DEFINITELY a gap in the market.

After forking out a small fortune on flights and accommodation, I felt really sorry for the Rangers fans who were told - at extremely short notice - they cant attend tonights Europa League tie in Lyon.

Theyd already been banned from entering the city centre as the game clashes with the Festival of Light which dates back to 1643 and attracts half a million visitors to the Lyon.

As a spokesman for the Rangers Supporters Association apparently said: Thats utterly ridiculous. Why are they still celebrating something that started in the 17th century?

Last weeks Saturday edition of Off The Ball featured The Toilet Roll XI as our Team of the Week.

For example, Tore Andrex Flo, Jurgen Plop and George Best (he was usually three sheets to the wind).

But heres a cracker that arrived too late for the show - referee Willie Collum.

Why? Well, hes the tube in the middle.

Meanwhile, when the legendary loo roll from school - the tracing paper that was Izal - got a mention, Robert in Beauly told us it was just like haggling in an Arnold Clark showroom.

No matter how much you try, you hardly get anything off

PS. Another subject last week was: What has Glasgow done for you?

An email that dropped after the programme said: Well be forever grateful to this wonderful city.

And it was signed (aye right!) by all the monks at Buckfast Abbey in Devon.

PPS. On which note - and keeping it closer to your Lanarkshire correspondents neck of the woods - please tell me theres at least ONE pub in Airdrie at this time of year that sells MULLED Buckfast tonic wine?

Finally got my Christmas tree up AND the washing sorted!

Raider of the Lost Bark.

Any reader know someone called Leon who might want these? I ordered Noel but they sent me the wrong one.

Celtic legends Chris Sutton and John Hartson were thrilled to meet Oscar-winning Gandhi star Ben Kingsley.

First it was elf on the shelf, now its

Word of the week is testiculate: to wave ones arms around while talking bollocks.

Dear Santa, all I want is a fat bank account and a skinny body. Please dont mix it up again like last year.

In this cold weather, spare a thought for all the pigs who heard they were getting blankets for Christmas.

I was on a flight last week and the lunch choice was either chicken or German sausage. Unfortunately I was seated in the back row. I was hoping for the breast, but prepared for the wurst.

Due to the recent cold snap, schools are advising mothers to wear TWO pairs of pyjamas while dropping the kids off in the morning.

My sex life is like a Ferrari. I dont have a Ferrari.

The four stages of a mans life: 1/ you believe in Santa; 2/ you dont believe in Santa; 3/ you are Santa; 4/ you look like Santa.

A huge blaze totally destroyed the doctors surgery last night. Unfortunately, the fire brigade are only doing telephone appointments right now

I nearly got knocked off my bike by a council salt lorry last night. You f****** idiot! I shouted through gritted teeth.

Really wish I hadnt taken my son to see Father Christmas yesterday - hed clearly been drinking and he stank of cigarettes. Goodness knows what Santa thought of him.

Warning: if you get sent a link to listen to the new Ed Sheeran and Elton John Christmas song, dont open it! Its a link to the new Ed Sheeran and Elton John Christmas song...

A 99-year-old woman has been revealed as Britains oldest (guess what?) learner driver!

Sure enough, in every report I read there was NO mention of where exactly shes from.

And so, for super safety, Id advise every single motorist in the UK to stay off the roads

You know it makes sense.

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Tam Cowan: It felt like medics used the Hubble telescope to do my colonoscopy - Daily Record