FIRST REAL IMAGES: James Webb Space Telescope Detects Artificial Lights
Intro The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope
was one of the most exciting things to happen to astronomy for decades.
The much-anticipated space observatory was launched into orbit in December of 2021 after
many years of development, delays, and controversy.
Now, after decades of waiting, the telescope has finally taken its first few images.
Initial reports state that the telescope has detected evidence of artificial lights!
Let's take a look at these reports and what they mean for humanity.
The James Webb Space Telescope The James Webb Space Telescope is a $10 billion
project from NASA, making it the largest and most powerful space telescope ever developed.
The observatory will probe the cosmos to uncover the history of the universe, starting from
the Big Bang to alien planet formation and beyond.
It is one of NASA's Great Observatories, huge space instruments that include the likes of
the Hubble Space Telescope to peer deep into the cosmos.
The telescope was launched on December 25 2021 from the European Space Agency's launch
site in Kourou, French Guiana aboard an Arianespace Ariane 5 rocket.
It took 30 days for the James Webb Space Telescope to travel nearly a million miles to its permanent
location called a Lagrange point, a gravitationally stable location in space.
The telescope arrived at L2, the second sun-Earth Lagrange point on Jan. 24, 2022.
L2 is a spot in space near Earth that lies opposite the sun; this orbit will allow the
telescope to stay in line with Earth as it orbits the sun.
It has been a popular spot for several other space telescopes, including the Herschel Space
Telescope and the Planck Space Observatory.
According to NASA, the James Webb Space Telescope will focus on four main areas: first light
in the universe, assembly of galaxies in the early universe, the birth of stars and protoplanetary
systems, and planets.
The JWST is currently undergoing a series of science and calibration tests.
On June 17 NASA announced that Webb was about halfway through its instrument checks.
As of today, 7 out of Webb's 17 instrument modes are ready for science according to the
statement.
The powerful James Webb Space Telescope is also expected to take amazing photos of celestial
objects like its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope.
Luckily for astronomers, the Hubble Space Telescope remains in good health and the two
telescopes will probably work together for JWST's first years.
JWST will also look at exoplanets that the Kepler Space Telescope found, or follow up
on real-time observations from ground space telescopes.
The telescope is the product of an impressive international collaboration between NASA,
the European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency.
According to NASA, the JWST involved over 300 universities, organizations, and companies
across 29 U.S. states and 14 countries.
The nominal duration for the observatory is five years but the goal is 10 years.
The JWST was first slated to fly in 2007 and since then astronomers' patience has been
sternly tested.
A mix of engineering problems, political hesitancy, and project management issues have all contributed
to countless delays.
In July 2011, U.S. politicians threatened to pull funding for the JWST.
After a nail-biting few months, the spacecraft was saved in November 2011.
Then in March 2018, the launch of JWST was delayed due to technical issues with the spacecraft.
Later that year in June, an independent review board recommended the launch be moved to March
2021.
In 2020, The global coronavirus pandemic impacted JWST's progress and in July 2020, NASA announced
a new launch date of October 31, 2021.
Despite the perseverance and determination of the JWST team during a difficult time,
the delays kept coming.
In June 2021, problems with the Ariane 5 launch vehicle pushed the launch date back to November
or possibly early December 2021.
In the end, the telescope finally ended up launching into space in late December.
The instrument was previously known as the Next Generation Space Telescope and was renamed
the James Webb Space Telescope in Sept. 2002.
The JWST is named for former NASA chief James Webb.
Webb took charge of the space agency from 1961 to 1968, retiring just a few months before
NASA put the first man on the moon.
Not everyone is happy with the choice of name for the space telescope.
An online petition was set up by critics urging NASA to rename the telescope due to claims
that Webb was complicit in discrimination against NASA employees during his tenure.
Goals and Instruments The James Webb Space Telescope's science mandate
is principally divided into four areas.
One of these is the study of first light and reionization of the cosmos.
This refers to the early stages of the universe after the Big Bang started the universe as
we know it today.
In the first stages after the Big Bang, the universe was a sea of particles such as electrons,
protons, and neutrons, and the light was not visible until the universe cooled enough for
these particles to begin combining.
Another thing JWST will study is what happened after the first stars formed; this era is
called "the epoch of reionization" because it refers to when neutral hydrogen was re-ionized
by radiation from these first stars.
Looking at galaxies is a useful way to see how matter is organized on gigantic scales,
which in turn gives us hints as to how the universe evolved.
The spiral and elliptical galaxies we see today evolved from different shapes over billions
of years, and one of JWST's goals is to look back at the earliest galaxies to better understand
that evolution.
Scientists are also trying to figure out how we got the variety of galaxies that are visible
today and the current ways that galaxies form and assemble.
The telescope will also be able to study the birth of stars and protoplanetary systems.
The Eagle Nebula's "Pillars of Creation" are some of the most famous birthplaces for stars.
Stars come to be in clouds of gas, and as the stars grow, the radiation pressure they
exert blows away the cocooning gas which could be used again for other stars, if not too
widely dispersed.
However, it's difficult to see inside the gas.
JWST's infrared eyes will be able to look at sources of heat, including stars that are
being born in these cocoons.
Perhaps the most exciting part of the telescope’s mission is to study planets and the origins
of life.
The last decade has seen vast numbers of exoplanets discovered, including with NASA's planet-seeking
Kepler Space Telescope.
JWST's powerful sensors will be able to peer at these planets in more depth, including,
in some cases, imaging their atmospheres.
Understanding the atmospheres and the formation conditions for planets could help scientists
better predict if certain planets are habitable or not.
The telescope is equipped with 4 science instruments that will enable observations in visible,
near-infrared, and mid-infrared wavelengths.
The first of these is the Near Infrared Camera.
This is the telescope's primary imager that will cover the infrared wavelength range of
0.6 to 5 microns.
NIRCam will detect light from the earliest stars and galaxies in the process of formation,
the population of stars in nearby galaxies, as well as young stars in the Milky Way and
Kuiper Belt objects.
NIRCam is equipped with coronagraphs, instruments that allow astronomers to take pictures of
very faint objects around a central bright object, like stellar systems.
NIRCam's coronagraph works by blocking a brighter object's light, making it possible to view
the dimmer object nearby - just like shielding the sun from your eyes with an upraised hand
can allow you to focus on the view in front of you.
With the coronagraphs, astronomers hope to determine the characteristics of planets orbiting
nearby stars.
The Near InfraRed Spectrograph is another instrument that will operate over a wavelength
range of 0.6 to 5 microns.
A spectrograph is used to disperse light from an object into a spectrum.
Analyzing the spectrum of an object can tell us about its physical properties, including
temperature, mass, and chemical composition.
The atoms and molecules in the object imprint lines on its spectrum that uniquely fingerprint
each chemical element present and can reveal a wealth of information about physical conditions
in the object.
Spectroscopy and spectrometry are among the sharpest tools in the shed for exploring the
cosmos.
Additionally, the Mid-Infrared Instrument and the Fine Guidance Sensor are 2 other instruments
that help the telescope in achieving its mission.
Looking for Extraterrestrial Life In its earliest form, the Search for Extraterrestrial
Intelligence involved the hunt for messages that other civilizations were actively broadcasting
for us to pick up.
But another possibility is that these civilizations create passive techno signatures that we could
spot, rather like the ordinary radio, TV, and radar broadcasts that humans have been
generating for a century.
These, however, are much weaker.
Then there is the artificial light we produce which illuminates the nightside of the planet.
And the possibility that advanced civilizations could build megastructures to harvest energy
from the host star and that would be visible across the galaxy.
The latest focus of attention is synthetic chemicals in the atmosphere.
These are by-products from industrial processes that can only be produced by non-biological
processes.
One candidate is nitrogen dioxide, an exhaust gas produced by internal combustion engines
in much greater quantities than non-human sources.
So, an observation of nitrogen dioxide in the atmosphere of an exoplanet is a potential
techno signature, provided natural sources can be ruled out.
A key part of this search is the James Webb Space Telescope.
The observatory is the only known instrument in existence capable of detecting these signatures
and finding alien life.
The possibility of remotely detecting biosignatures has been a hot topic in recent years.
In our solar system, the recent discovery of phosphine in Venus' atmosphere sparked
speculation that the chemical might be created by a microbial lifeform.
Similarly, remote sensing experts have proposed that plant life – which uses photosynthesis
for energy – could be detected in infrared wavelengths, as chlorophyll absorbs visible
light, but shows up brightly in infrared, and would give planets covered in foliage
a distinct 'red edge ‘. A single-pixel photo of a distant planet just might contain enough
information to tell us if biological life is there, based on the information stored
in the wavelengths of light that reach the telescope lens.
Artificial Lights at Proxima Centauri B In late 2020, we discovered a signal from
the direction of Proxima Centauri, our closest neighbor star.
Named BLC- 1 by project Break Through Listen, the signal is still being analyzed to ensure
it isn’t simply an echo of our civilization, which is typically what they turn out to be.
From space, the most obvious sign somebody lives on Earth is the glow from the nightside
of our planet.
Our cities emit light that’s shed into the Cosmos.
Problem is that our current generation of telescopes are not powerful enough to see
lights on distant worlds.
But several researchers are now studying the capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope
and believe it may be able to pick up these signatures.
There are several ways you could tell alien technology exists on another planet.
For example, we may be able to see the light of a distant world waver with the transit
of a massive constellation of satellites.
Atmospheric pollution may be detectable from nuclear conflict.
But while these indications of technology could also be caused by natural phenomena
like orbiting debris or a comet impact, artificial illumination is distinct from the natural
light of stars.
Scientists have recently taken the JWST on a virtual alien light hunting mission to test
its limits.
The virtual JWST is trained on Proxima b – the one confirmed planet in the Proxima Centauri
system that could host a civilization.
Located 4.25 light-years from Earth, Proxima b is a rocky world in the habitable zone of
the M-class red dwarf star Proxima Centauri – a mere 12% the mass of our Sun.
Proxima b is heftier than us at about 1.6 Earth masses and 1.3 times our radius.
It orbits Proxima Centauri in just 11.2 days at a distance of around 4.3 million miles–
only 5% of the distance at which Earth orbits the Sun.
The study shows that the JWST could detect artificial light with 85% certainty if the
conditions are right.
This gives scientists hope that the telescope will be able to uncover the mystery of if
we are alone in the universe.
Outro If you liked this video, please also consider
taking a look at this one which looks at NASA’s new LightSail engine which breaks the laws
of physics!
Do you think the James Webb Space Telescope will help us discover intelligent alien life?
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