[♪ INTRO]
Alright, are you ready to head over to Sam’s observatory?
[Squeaks squeaks]
Oh, hey there! Squeaks and I are going to visit Sam the Bat.
Sam’s super excited to show us some new photos that have been taken
by the James Webb Space Telescope, a new telescope that people launched into space.
[Squeaks squeaks]
The new telescope can see much further than Sam’s telescope, Squeaks.
The James Webb Space Telescope can do lots of incredible new things,
including see further away than people have ever seen before.
[Squeaks squeaks]
This new telescope doesn’t exactly have special space powers, Squeaks.
The James Webb Space Telescope can see further away
because engineers created it using a new design.
[Squeaks squeaks]
Well, telescopes have changed a lot over time.
Engineers design new telescopes to solve new problems and challenges.
Try thinking of it this way:
Say that you wanted to look at something really far away, like the planet Jupiter.
If you just used your eyes, it might look something like this.
Jupiter is huge, but because it’s super far away,
it looks really small when we just look with our eyes.
It really just looks like a bright dot!
However, we can use a tool that engineers designed
to help us see far away to get a better look!
[Squeaks squeaks]
Exactly, a telescope!
The telescope we’ve used to look at stars outside works kind of like a magnifying glass.
A magnifying glass has a part called a lens,
which is a special shape of glass that makes things look bigger.
Our little telescope is similar.
It uses lenses and mirrors inside to make objects far away look bigger.
Centuries ago, astronomers, or people who study stars and planets, started using simple
telescopes like these to start looking more closely at stars,
planets, and other objects in space.
Here’s what Jupiter looks like through a simple telescope design.
[Squeaks squeaks]
You’re right, a simple telescope makes it a bit easier to see,
but it’s still not very clear in this picture.
Telescopes help us to look at things really far away, but if there’s a lot of air
between the telescope and the thing we’re trying to see, it can be difficult to see.
[Squeaks squeaks]
It can actually be hard to see through air sometimes!
There’s air all around us right now.
You and I can still see each other, so we think of air as being see-through.
But it’s not actually perfectly see-through. It makes the light that we see jiggle around.
That doesn’t matter most of the time, but a lot of air can make whatever we’re trying to observe
through the telescope look blurry or fuzzy.
So telescope engineers have had to come up with different solutions
to make it so telescopes don’t have to look through as much air.
How would you solve this problem, Squeaks?
[Squeaks squeaks]
That’s a great idea!
Engineers have tried a couple of different ways to put telescopes in places with less air.
Like putting observatories in places that are really high up, like on mountains.
That way, the telescope is already closer to stars and things up in space,
and there’s less air for the telescope to look through.
People use these telescopes to see space really well, while still staying on Earth.
[Squeaks squeaks]
Yeah, we put Sam’s telescope as high up as we could, so it works a bit more like this.
Check out what Jupiter looks like from some of our high-up observatories.
The photos are much clearer.
But the telescopes are still on Earth, so some of Earth’s air still gets in the way.
So if we want to get a really clear image, we could design a different kind of telescope.
[Squeaks squeaks]
Yes, we could design a telescope to work in space!
Space telescopes, like the James Webb Space Telescope,
look really different compared to many telescopes here on Earth.
They don’t have the same kind of lenses and mirrors, and they have to be much, much bigger.
Their different designs help these telescopes to look super far into space,
and then send the images back to Earth,
instead of having people looking through the telescope itself.
With no air in between the telescope and the things it’s looking at,
the images can be much clearer.
Take a look, Sam sent me this picture of Jupiter from the James Webb Space Telescope.
You can see the details of the planet so well!
And we can even design telescopes to see things people can’t.
Some things in space can’t be seen with our eyes,
but they’re still out there for us to learn about.
We can design telescopes to see things we can’t, and show them in pictures.
That means we can use the James Webb Space Telescope to observe space mysteries
in amazing new ways, and see whole galaxies like we’ve never seen before.
This telescope took a long time and a lot of hard work to build,
and it’s super far away from us now,
so designing it to do lots of important observation jobs well was really important.
Telescopes come in many shapes, sizes, and even locations,
and each design can be used for a different purpose.
Our small telescope is great for playing and observing stars at home,
Sam the Bat’s telescope is great for his special space observations,
and the James Webb Space Telescope is going to help us make discoveries
no human has ever made before!
[Squeaks squeaks]
I bet that Sam will be really excited to answer your new questions
about the James Webb Space Telescope, Squeaks.
But speaking of questions, how about we answer a quick question from a viewer first?
[Squeaks squeaks]
Today’s question comes from Vibha, age 10.
Vibha asks, “How does a chameleon change colours?”
Panther chameleons are amazing lizards that can change the color of their skin
from green and blue, to yellow and orange, white and red.
A chameleon’s skin is filled with lots of teeny, tiny crystals called iridophores.
The iridophores have a special structure, or shape, that makes the chameleon
look a certain color when light bounces off of the crystals into our eyes.
When the chameleon wants to change its color, something incredible happens:
it changes the shape of its crystals, and that changes its color!
So when you’re seeing a chameleon change color, you’re really seeing the chameleon
make thousands and thousands of tiny crystals move in its skin.
How cool!
Thanks for asking, Vibha!
If you want to send us a question, you can ask a grownup
to help you get started at patreon.com/scishowkids.
Have you ever used a telescope to see far away?
What kind of telescope would you want to design?
Be sure to hit the subscribe button to keep exploring amazing new science tools
with me, Squeaks, and all of our friends!
We’ll see you next time, here at the Fort.
[♪ OUTRO]