And then there’s the Spacecraft Element, which includes the spacecraft bus and sunshield. The Optical Telescope Element, the main eye of the observatory, includes the mirrors and backplane, or spine, that supports the mirrors. These instruments will mainly be used for capturing images or spectroscopy - breaking down light into different wavelengths to determine physical and chemical components. One is the Integrated Science Instrument Module, which holds Webb’s suite of four instruments. The observatory is comprised of three main elements. With all of its superlatives, engineering Webb was an extraordinary challenge. Other objects of interest for the intiial science campaign include observing the supermassive black hole at the center of the Milky Way, actively forming planetary systems, bright quasars at the center of galaxies and leftovers from the formation of our solar system known as Kuiper Belt Objects including Pluto and its moon Charon. The gases within these alien atmospheres could reveal the very building blocks of life. Its spectroscopic data can tell scientists if methane, carbon dioxide or carbon monoxide is in the atmosphere. The telescope will take a closer look at a selection of exoplanets to peer inside their atmospheres, if they have them, and help answer questions about how the planets formed and evolved. Building off Spitzer’s work studying brown dwarfs - objects that are too large to be planets but too small to be stars - Webb can take a closer look at their cloud properties. Webb is also well equipped to shed light on the mysteries of planet formation. Another target for early in the mission is WASP-18b, a blazing “hot Jupiter” with an atmosphere, according to NASA. Finding water could suggest the potential for life as well. One of the planned targets for Webb is TRAPPIST-1e, which could support liquid water on its surface. The planets all bear the TRAPPIST name - which the researchers borrowed from their favorite beer.
With Spitzer’s help, the seven exoplanets were all found in tight formation around an ultracool dwarf star called TRAPPIST-1. Spitzer, as well as NASA’s ongoing planet-hunting Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) mission, have helped scientists establish targets for follow-up by Webb, including some of Spitzer’s “greatest hits.” Webb will be able to characterize exoplanets, going beyond Spitzer’s capabilities of measuring how big a planet is and seeing the intricate details of how they look.įor example, in February 2017 astronomers announced their discovery of seven Earth-size planets orbiting a star 40 light-years from Earth. Of particular interest are planets located within the habitable zone of stars, an orbital region where a planet is the right temperature to support liquid water on its surface - which suggests it could potentially support life as we know it. The science goals for Webb are ambitious, and scientists around the world will use their allotted time using the telescope to observe and analyze a broad spectrum of planets, black holes, galaxies, stars and the structure of the universe itself.Ī key focus is planet formation and evolution, both in our solar system as well as the large population of planets outside of it. Its capabilities will enable the observatory to answer questions about our own solar system and investigate faint signals from the first galaxies formed 13.5 billion years ago. The Webb telescope will look at every phase of cosmic history, including the first glows after the big bang that created our universe and the formation of the galaxies, stars and planets that fill it today. Now, Webb is ready to help us understand the origins of the universe and begin to answer key questions about our existence, such as where we came from and if we’re alone in the cosmos. Since then, thousands of scientists, technicians and engineers from 14 countries have spent 40 million hours building the telescope. The concept for the telescope was first imagined as a successor to Hubble at a workshop in 1989 and construction on Webb first began in 2004.