LUVOIR: JWST AND HST SHOCKING SUCCESSOR
The next generation of brand-new telescopes will provide us with very important insights into the
universe. In the upcoming years, for example, we might discover we are not alone, but other forms
of life exist on some exoplanets. Such powerful telescopes will be equipped with instruments
developed with the most advanced technologies of our time. Not only we will have a deeper
understanding of the far universe, but also our view of the solar system will change completely.
These telescopes are the maximum expression of our insane curiosity.
Some months ago, the sky was gifted with the James Webb Space Telescope, now orbiting in a
halo trajectory around the L2 lagrangian point. But the next telescope to be launched will
probably be the Luvoir telescope. It will be the shocking successor of the Hubble space telescope.
But what kind of technologies will be implemented? And what
are the real goals of this mission? Let's find out in this new video.
So far, the LUVOIR, large UV optical infrared telescope,
is only a telescope concept, but a really nice one, I must say.
It will be a large multi-wavelength, serviceable observatory following the
heritage of the Hubble Space Telescope. Its unique science goals, if accomplished,
would enable huge advances across a broad range of astrophysics.
The proposed launch date was set in mid-2030 and, if everything goes well,
it will reach an orbit around the L2 lagrangian point. So we will have two
of the most powerful telescopes, JWST, and LUVOIR, orbiting somewhere around that point.
The architecture of this telescope is still uncertain. Engineers are considering two models,
one with a 15 meters mirror, architecture A, and another with an 8-meter mirror architecture B.
If A is chosen, the telescope will probably be launched on NASA's planned Space Launch System,
SLS, the same rocket that's now having troubles with the Artemis 1 mission, while
Architecture B is being designed to launch on a heavy-lift vehicle with a 5-m diameter fairing.
The primary mirror for LUVOIR-A is an on-axis three-mirror anastigmat system
(TMA). This configuration would enable high optical quality across a wide field of view.
LUVOIR-B is an off-axis TMA. If this architecture is chosen,
it will be one of the best telescopes for the observations of exoplanets.
Both designs include a fine steering mirror,
to achieve ultra-fine pointing stability for all of the instruments.
But what are LUVOIR's goals? First of all, our brand new
telescope will address the age-old question: ARE WE ALONE IN THE UNIVERSE?
To answer this question, LUVOIR will be equipped with two channels - a UV/visible (UVIS) channel
covering 200 nm (nanometers) - 950 nm and a near-IR (NIR) channel covering the range
800 nm - 2500 nm. But this is not the end of the story! LUVOIR is not a simple telescope:
it will be equipped with state-of-the-art instruments. Let's take a look at them.
To start with, we can talk about the LUMOS instrument.
LUMOS (LUVOIR Ultraviolet Multi Object Spectrograph) is a special spectrograph.
A spectrograph basically collects the light and splits it into the entire range of wavelengths,
thus making a spectrum. This spectrum is crossed by lines,
which tell astronomers what kind of elements they are observing in a faraway galaxy or star.
Taking a spectrum is a really expensive task, and usually one studies one object at a time.
But LUMOS is not a simple spectrograph: it is a multi-object spectrograph covering
far-ultraviolet (100 nm) through visible (1000 nm) wavelengths,
capable of observing hundreds of targets at once in a wide field of view.
It can be considered a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph
(STIS) instrument, with two orders-of-magnitude higher efficiencies, multi-object capability,
and a wide-field multi-band imaging channel. Can you imagine how good it will be?
Another fantastic instrument we will have onboard the LUVOIR telescope is ECLIPS.
It stands for extreme coronagraph for living planetary systems,
and it's a quite complex instrument.
A coronagraph is a disk to be put on the telescope,
and it is designed to suppress the overwhelming glare of starlight so
that faint planets can be seen adjacent to their parent stars.
Coronagraph instruments are extreme examples of light rejection and precise photometry because
the total brightness from the solar corona is less than one-millionth the brightness of the Sun.
The apparent surface brightness is even fainter because, in addition to delivering
less total light, the corona has a much greater apparent size than the Sun itself.
For instance, during a total solar eclipse, the Moon acts as an occluding disk and any
camera in the eclipse path may be operated as a coronagraph until the eclipse is over.
As you can understand, a coronagraph turns out to be really useful when it
comes to the study of exoplanets. In this way, ECLIPS would enable,
for the first time, direct imaging and spectroscopy of Earth-like exoplanets.
Don't worry! Along with weird ultimate generation spectrographs and coronagraphs,
LUVOIR will be equipped with HDI: a really, really nice camera.
HDI stands for high definition imager. This instrument is the primary instrument for
imaging observations in the near-ultraviolet through the near-infrared. Think about what
Hubble can do. Could you imagine what LUVOIR will be able to do with this brand-new camera?
All the taken pictures will be probably printed, and used in congresses, living rooms,
and tv shows...it will be the beginning of a new era for science and the world.
We've been saying that LUVOIR could be the shocking successor of HST. Let's make
some comparisons to understand why. HST was launched on April 24, 1990,
and has inspired generations of scientists, with such iconic images as the “Pillars of Creation”,
and the “Hubble eXtreme Deep Field”, but sooner or later we'll have to say goodbye.
That's when LUVOIR is supposed to kick in. And it will be capable of great things.
If engineers will go for LUVOIR A, for instance,
they will be able to resolve structures as small as 100 pc...anywhere in the visible universe.
This critical scale corresponds to typical star formation scales,
which is the reason why with LUVOIR, we will have a new window into the birth of stars and galaxies.
These galaxies are so far that they are actually ultra-faint.
Studying the ultra-faint requires a space telescope of LUVOIR's scale,
15 meters in diameter, because the bigger the mirror is,
the more light can be collected, and the further we can observe.
For example, the very first galaxies altered the universe, as their hot stars reionized the
intergalactic medium. But we don't know how it really happens. To answer this, we must measure
the contribution of galaxies to reionization, i.e. the total luminosity produced by those galaxies.
Ultra-faint observations with LUVOIR can reach
depths where the luminosity function turnover should be clearly detected.
Hey, if you are still here, it means you are really enjoying this video!
Why don't you subscribe now and press the bell notification?
But not only LUVOIR will allow us to observe the first lights in the
universe. It will also provide near-flyby quality observations of solar system bodies.
For instance, LUVOIR will reveal currently unseen details of the solar system’s dwarf planets.
As you can see, the derived surface map of Pluto,
based on high-resolution imaging with HST, is nothing compared to the simulated LUVOIR images.
These simulations resolve spatial scales of 55 miles for LUVOIR-A and 105 miles for LUVOIR-B,
for PLUTO. This means we could see squares of 55 or 105 miles in
great detail at the distance of Pluto. Given that pluto is not even a planet,
this can help you understand how powerful this telescope will be.
LUVOIR's unprecedented resolution and ability to track solar system objects will also enable remote
studies of the moons, asteroids, and comets in our solar system, producing images with
resolution comparable to NASA's Juno mission, the first explorer to peer below the planet's dense
clouds to answer questions about the gas giant itself and the origins of our solar system.
Talking about exoplanets instead, LUVOIR will directly image, detect, and measure the orbits
of hundreds of exoplanets of all types, from hot Jupiters to cold sub-Neptunes/super-Earths,
revolutionizing our understanding of planet formation and evolution.
And it will probably be the key instrument for the search for life as we know it.
We already know exoplanets are strange worlds. Who knows, maybe this telescope will show us
even weirder planets. Or maybe, it will find the first real TWIN of the Earth.
But perhaps the most amazing thing will be this one.
NOT ONLY WE WILL HAVE INFO ABOUT ALREADY FORMED EXOPLANETS:
we will also have the chance to study them while they are forming!
In fact, astronomers know that planets form out of a disk of dust and gas surrounding
the star in the first stages of its evolution. Looking for these disks and studying them is
one of the goals of this telescope. LUVOIR achieves AU-scale imaging and spectroscopy
of planet-forming disks. So we will be able to both see them, and know what they are made of.
High-resolution imaging over wide fields and multi-object
UV spectroscopy will enable the measurement of the
structure and composition of protoplanetary environments in unprecedented detail.
For example, LUMOS will enable the first census of planet-forming disk abundances (CO, H2O, CH4,
O2), including molecular hydrogen (H2). This is really important to understand
how planets formed and evolved, and maybe how the Earth itself did.
Moreover, using LUMOS to study multiple star-forming regions,
we survey ‘when’, ‘where’, and ‘how much’ material is available to create
the envelopes and atmospheres of both rocky and gas giant planets.
The time for a mission like LUVOIR is now. If there's one thing that we
understood about exoplanets, is that small, rocky planets are common.
Investments in starlight suppression technologies (such as coronagraphs) have
lowered the risk of these mission concepts to an acceptable level.
As Scott Gaudi from the Ohio State University stated in his paper, “We can now start the
development of a large strategic mission that will be a great successor to HST, and will not only
answer some of the most fundamental questions in astrophysics and planetary science but may
also finally answer the question of whether or not there is life elsewhere in the Universe.”
Aren't you excited?
This video ends here! What do you think about the LUVIOR space telescope concept?
Let us know in the comments below! And if you enjoyed the video,
don't forget to share it, and I'll see you next time on the channel.