KTH's James Webb Telescope Event
Unless you've been living under a rock, then you've definitely heard about the launch of the amazing James Webb Telescope. The most incredible space telescope to have ever been built was an international partnership between NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Agency), ESA (European Space Agency) and the CSA (Canadian Space Agency). Luckily, I had the opportunity to see the telescope's pictures premiere at KTH University - The Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden on the 12th of July. Here's how it went:
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The event started with a 1:10 model ratio of the actual telescope. The model was about 8 meters in length which - according to the astronomers at KTH - makes the actual telescope the size of a tennis court! (making it by far the largest telescope ever)
In comparison to the Hubble telescope:
- Image credits: Vox.com
Now, this raises the question: Will James Webb replace our beloved Hubble? Well according to the experts at KTH: No.
First of all, the James Webb Telescope has the ability to travel far beyond Hubble and will therefore be conducting deep-space investigations that Hubble cannot do. Webb will not actually orbit the earth as Hubble does. So one could say that Hubble is still our friendly neighbourhood telescope ;)
Second of all, the two telescopes were built for completely different purposes. The James Webb was designed to find the first galaxies formed in addition to the oldest stars and capture data on exoplanets (planets outside our galaxy) that could be proof of potential life. On the other hand, we have Hubble, whose main objective is to gather data that could help us understand just how vast space is. Since they both have two different tasks, that means that they are built with different specs. For example, James Webb uses infrared wavelengths to gather its data, while Hubble uses ultraviolet wavelengths.
The James Webb telescope also helps scientists understand the different gases that can be found in deep space. This happens due to the fact that the data the telescope gathers can be divided into different wavelength ranges that ascertain the different elements.
- Image credits: Nasa.gov
After the premiere, I just had to take a walk around the university's beautiful campus!
If you're interested in reading more, check out NASA's James Webb website, ESA's James Webb page and CSA's James Webb page
- Kind regards, Riyam