THE JAMES WEBB COULD CHANGE HISTORY WITH THE FIRST SIGNS OF ALIENS
Throughout the history of humanity, the need to know where we come from has remained constant
in our thoughts; we look at the stars and ask ourselves, Will there be anyone outside?
So far, we have never found a single indication that life may exist anywhere else in the universe;
however, the fact that there is life on Earth is reason enough to believe that there may
be life elsewhere.
The new James Web telescope could give us the puzzle piece we need to discover once
and for all whether we are alone in the universe or not.
(Introduction) THE JAMES WEBB TELESCOPE
Welcome to James Webbs’ Dwarf II, a portable digital telescope. It’s intelligent and
features the latest innovation
in astronomy. We have made different videos explaining the operation and parts of this
telescope in this channel. Still, today we will focus on something much more critical,
the discoveries of new exoplanets that could have extraterrestrial life.
The James Webb telescope carries among its instruments a series of equipment that will
be responsible for collecting different types of electromagnetic radiation from outer space.
Although the James Webb is already where it will remain for more than ten years, the L2
point of Lagrange, this not yet ready to operate since it must perfectly calibrate each of
its equipment.
Correctly position the hexagonal lenses that make up the telescope, do temperature measurement
tests of all the devices and perform some tests of sending data to the Earth.
Something that few know is that the process of sending the collected data to the Earth
is one of the tasks that the James Web telescope demands the most energy, that is why the most
significant possible effort is made to send the most amount of information by spending
the least amount of energy and the only way to achieve that is by sending compressed data
packets that are then decompressed here on Earth.
It is for this reason that the first images of the James Web will take more than half
a year to be revealed; the telescope does not send sharp images to the Earth; it sends
data packets with a lot of information and a few images that then become high-quality
images here on Earth.
If the telescope sent images in high definition, its energy would run out very quickly. The
L2 point where the James Web Telescope is located 1.5 million kilometres from the Earth
in the opposite direction to the Sun; that is, a signal from the telescope to the Earth
takes approximately 3.5 seconds to arrive.
A conversation between the control team of the telescope on Earth and the telescope in
space has a delay of only 7 seconds since it is 3.5 seconds for the signal to reach
the telescope from the Earth and another 3.5 seconds for the signal to return from the
telescope to the Earth.
That is how long it takes for signals and information to go from one place to another;
as you can see, this is not the reason why the first images of the James Web telescope
will take time to show; what they take time are not the signals, what takes longer is
to convert that information that comes to us from the James Web into images that anyone
can understand. THE FIRST IMAGES
For now, there is no exact date of when the first images from the James Webb telescope
will be announced or about what object they will be; the only thing we know is that one
of the options could be an exoplanet with a high probability of hosting liquid water
and possibly alien life. EXOPLANETS
In this channel, we have made a lot of videos about exoplanets; we invite you to subscribe
so that you do not miss any. Exoplanets orbit a star other than the Sun; they are planets
from other solar systems far from our own.
Currently, at least 4000 exoplanets have been found in different solar systems. The exciting
thing about this is that as we discover new worlds out there, we realize that most of
the planets in the galaxy are very different from those in our solar system.
SUPER-EARTHS AND MINI-NEPTUNES There are two types of planets in our solar
system: tiny rocky planets and giant gaseous planets. In contrast, the solar systems we
have found do not contain these planets; on the contrary, both rocky planets and gas giants
are scarce in the universe; our solar system is very different from most solar systems
in the Milky Way.
The most common planets in the galaxy are known as super-Earths and mini-Neptunes.
Super-Earths are a type of rocky planet with 5 times the mass of the Earth, and the mini-Neptunes
are gaseous planets much more minor than Neptune with up to 10 times the mass of the Earth.
Those two types of planets would be like intermediate versions between the mini rocky and the gas
giants that our solar system has and, in turn, are the most common in most solar systems
that we have discovered so far.
For a long time, scientists and astronomers tasked with hunting exoplanets for extraterrestrial
life had focused on searching for planets with Earth-like conditions, a small, rocky
planet in the habitable zone of its solar system that contains water.
Unfortunately, these planets are scarce and difficult to find because they are such small
that telescopes cannot detect them unless they transit just in front of their star.
Because of this, astronomers began to explore other options; what if planets like Earth
were not the only places where life could arise? What if there was a type of planet
with conditions even better than those on Earth for living things? Could such a thing
exist?
The answer is yes; according to the most recent research on organic life signatures, Earth
is not the only type of planet where life could arise.
HYCEAN PLANETS The term Hycean arises from the combination
of the words Hydrogen and Ocean. Hycean planets are up to 2.5 times larger than Earth and
boast vast oceans of liquid water beneath hydrogen-rich atmospheres.
Hycean worlds are similar in size to "super-Earths" and "mini-Neptunes," two of the most common
types of exoplanets in the galaxy. But Hyceans are different in that they have densities
that position them between super-Earths and mini-Neptunes.
The Planets Hyceans are also a diverse batch of exoplanets. Some orbit so close to their
stars that they sense a phenomenon called "tidal coupling."
TIDAL COUPLING Tidal coupling occurs when the face of a celestial
body is permanently pointing to another larger celestial body; for example, this is just
what happens to the moon, our natural satellite.
The moon always has the same face facing the Earth; that is why we always see the same
side of the moon, since the time it takes the moon to make a turn on its axis is the
same time it takes to turn the Earth around.
In the case of a planet with tidal coupling with a star, on the side that is always pointing
to the star, it would always be during the day with scorching heat, while the opposite
side would be perpetually in the dark with a great cold.
If there were a Hycean Planet with this feature, the temperature differences between the dayside
and the night side would be so significant that the water would constantly be evaporating
on the side pointing to the star, creating an atmosphere rich in water vapour and hydrogen.
While on the night side, the temperature would be so low that everything would remain frozen.
Some analyses of various exoplanets and computer simulations have found that the larger radii
and higher temperatures that these types of planets present make the biomarkers characteristic
of biological organisms more easily detectable in these types of Hycean atmospheres compared
to those of rocky exoplanets.
Professor of Astrophysics and Exoplanetary Sciences Madhusudhan and his colleagues identified
several Hycean worlds whose atmospheres could be examined by next-generation observatories
such as NASA's James Webb Space Telescope; this could lead to a hunt for life where the
Hycean Planets will be the protagonists.
"A biosignature detection would transform our understanding of life in the universe,"
said Nikku Madhusudhan. "We need to be open about where we hope to find life and what
form that life might take, as nature continues to surprise us in often unimaginable ways.
BEST HYCEAN CANDIDATES TO FIND ALIENS HAT-P-11b
One of the most promising candidates to find signs of extraterrestrial life is the exoplanet
HAT-P-11b. It is the smallest exoplanet known to have water.
HAT-P-11b is located 120 light-years away in the constellation Cygnus and lies near
its star in a five-day orbit. This world is likely to be too warm for the oceans, but
it has water vapour and clear, cloudless skies, which could mean that some effect occurs inside
it that evaporates the water and keeps it inside the planet's atmosphere.
Kepler-22b This is the first planet in a confirmed orbit
in a star's habitable zone, the region around a star where liquid water can remain on its
surface. Kepler-22b is a "super-Earth," about 2.4 times the size of Earth. Scientists don't
yet know if the planet has a rocky, gaseous or liquid composition. The world may have
clouds in its atmosphere. Kepler-62
This is a solar system with five planets orbiting a star two-thirds the size of the Sun and
only one-fifth brighter.
Kepler-62 hosts two worlds in the habitable zone, Kepler-62f and Kepler-62e.
Kepler-62f orbits every 267 days and is only 40% larger than Earth, making it one of the
smallest exoplanets known in another star's habitable zone.
For now, the existence of life on these exoplanets has not yet been confirmed, but the James
Webb Space Telescope is expected to help us uncover the mysteries these planets have for
us.
The advantage of hyceans Planets is that being bodies with large bodies of water, they have
the possibility of maintaining ideal conditions for life even if they are outside the famous
habitable zone.
Astronomers agree that a wide variety of exoplanets lie outside the habitable zones and that they
could still host liquid water; if we discard these planets from now on, we could be missing
a valuable opportunity to find living beings.
The Hycean Planets have resources and ways to maintain a pleasant temperature within
their atmospheres even if they are very far from the habitable zone. A clear example of
this can be seen in our solar system. THE ALIENS COULD BE CLOSER THAN WE THINK
As we have mentioned so far, the Hycean planets have characteristics that could host living
beings even outside the habitable zone. We can appreciate this very well in our solar
system when we observe the natural satellites of the gas giants Jupiter or Saturn.
These two planets have satellites with large amounts of water; two of them are Europa,
a satellite of Jupiter or Enceladus, satellite of Saturn. Both natural satellites have concentrations
of water even higher than on Earth.
It is highly likely that beneath the miles of ice on the surface of these natural satellites
are oceans of liquid water with aquatic living things.
If we find extraterrestrials on any of these natural satellites one day, the chances of
finding living things on exoplanets with similar characteristics will increase dramatically.
For now, the James Webb is still in calibration, but in a few months, it will give us the most
impressive images of the universe and perhaps it will finally be revealed once and for all
if we are alone in the universe or not.