Futuristic telescope to shed light on 'Dark Ages' of space

Science Features

By Chris Cermak May 11, 2007, 11:30 GMT

Washington - The Dark Ages is not just a period in human history on Earth. For astronomers it represents the far-flung corners of the universe about which precious little is known, and which could yet hold the key to how planets were first formed. The full-scale model was assembled on the lawn at Goddard Space Flight Center, and displayed during September 19 - 25 2005. The JWST team took a group photo with it. Seeing the people gathered next to it shows its scale nicely. (NASA)

The full-scale model was assembled on the lawn at Goddard Space Flight Center, and displayed during September 19 - 25 2005. The JWST team took a group photo with it. Seeing the people gathered next to it shows its scale nicely. (NASA)US space agency NASA is hoping that a 'next generation' telescope slated for launch in 2013 will shed some light on the question. The James Webb Space Telescope, named after a former NASA administrator, is a joint project with the European and Canadian space agencies and a collection of private defence contractors. Three key officials involved in the project offered an update Thursday under a life-size model of the telescope, displayed in outside the National Air and Space Museum in Washington. Scientists hope the Webb observatory will help answer two of the biggest questions we have about space - how did it all start? And could there be life on other planets? Its predecessor, the Hubble telescope, delivered some of the first major insights into the universe's formation after it was launched in 1990. Yet its findings surprised astronomers: far-away galaxies that were expected to offer a glimpse of the very early universe turned out to be much more developed, meaning even they were formed long after the Big Bang, when astronomers believe the universe originated. In other words, to really get to the heart of the universe - to spot those distant galaxies that were formed first - NASA was going to need an even better set of binoculars. 'We needed a new telescope to see the very birth ... to see the first light of the universe,' said Edward Weiler, director of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre in Greenbelt, Maryland, and formerly the chief scientist on Hubble. And so while Hubble got things started, astronomers hope the Webb telescope will offer the 'first view into this strange period we call the Dark Ages,' said Matt Mountain, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland. Mountain headed scientific operations on Hubble and now on Webb. Added to that, the new telescope would be able to search further afield for planets that might have the right conditions to sustain life. Mountain gave the example of a seemingly habitable planet, about 1.5 times the Earth's size and orbiting a star about 20 light years away, that was discovered last month by a team of European scientists - the first such planet found in another solar system. The Webb telescope, Mountain said, could examine the planet's atmosphere more closely for signs of the water, oxygen and carbon that are crucial for the existence of life. The new telescope will have one large mirror about 6.5 metres wide - double the size yet half the weight of Hubble's - and a secondary, smaller mirror in front of it. Both are protected by a sun shield that will allow no more than one millionth of the sun's rays to get through. That allows the telescope to detect the infrared rays of distant planetary bodies without rays closer to home interfering. Both components can be folded in order to fit on the European Space Agency's Ariane 5 rocket, which will serve as the delivery vehicle. The Webb telescope will be placed in orbit on the other side of the moon, at one of the few spots in space where the Earth and sun remain in line, known to astronomers as the second Lagrange point. That will allow the mirror to block rays from the Earth, moon and sun. The project has been in the works since 1994 - four years after Hubble went into space - and, unlike when Hubble was first due to launch, most of the groundwork has already been completed. The technology has been developed. 'There's engineering to do but invention is done,' said Martin Mohan of Northrop Grumman Space Technology and chief engineer on the project. 'I'm not talking about the future. I'm talking about the past. ... These inventions are here.' Hubble was a different story. NASA had been so confident about the earlier telescope's potential that by the time it was first projected to launch in 1983, some of the device's components had not yet been invented. The task of keeping the project going 'at full speed' for another seven years meant major cost overruns, said Weiler. At 4.5 billion dollars, Webb is nearly half as costly as Hubble would have been at today's rates - it cost 1.6 billion dollars two decades ago - but many times more powerful. © 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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^_^May 11th, 2007 - 18:26:42

Awesome I'd like to know about the story on how planets were made

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andyMay 12th, 2007 - 13:44:16

The planets are just left over bits of rock and heavier elements from the formation of stars, and happened not just millions, but billions, of years after the formation of the Universe in the Big Bang.
This new telescope will be looking back to the Big Bang - not really anything to do with planet formation

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a$May 13th, 2007 - 07:05:38

The use of disinformation and diversion to manipulate public opinion is a highly developed art. It is well understood not only by psychological operations experts in the national security establishment, but also by marketing and public relations wizards. With the engineering of public reaction to September 11, disinformation has been used with a sophistication and depth that is historically unprecedented. A key tool in this modern form of psychological warfare is the 'meme' -- an idea that acts like an infectious agent to spread itself through a population. Through careful construction of memes, the perpetrators could depend on others to unwittingly promote their cover story and conceal the truth. Their disinformation strategy was twofold. First, they would sell the official story to the masses through the compliant mass media, relying on people's desire to believe the official story. Second, they would seed specious ideas in the community of '9/11 skeptics' in order to distract and discredit them.

911research.wtc7.net/disinfo/index.html

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WhatMay 13th, 2007 - 11:35:42

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JasonMay 13th, 2007 - 17:17:09

Andy is completely right. Planets are just left over debris, galmorous right? They were protoplanets that crashed together and formed together and made planets.

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RepairmanMay 13th, 2007 - 18:52:30

Can JSWT be repaired and or updated?

Repairs and updates have kept the Hubble doing fine work for years.

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RepairmanMay 13th, 2007 - 18:53:25

Can JSWT be repaired and or updated?

Repairs and updates have kept the Hubble doing fine work for years.

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AnonomooseMay 13th, 2007 - 19:58:08

I hope they don't discover that the universe expands even further out and they then want an even bigger telescope later.

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WhatMay 13th, 2007 - 21:02:06

What is andy? leftover...?

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JahRule666May 13th, 2007 - 21:53:46

Wait, let's go back to the memes. How do they fit into the telescope? Can we see the manupulators of the social unconscious with the James Webb thing? Does Mr. Webb know we're trying to scrutinize his memes? What would Mrs. Webb say?

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