First images from Webb space telescope to be released
Arianespace's Ariane 5 rocket with NASA's James Webb Space Telescope onboard, The telescope will use a technique called stellar spectroscopy to search for signs of life in the atmospheres of planets circling distant stars (exoplanets).
The space agencies of Europe and North America are to unveil the first images and data from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) tomorrow, in an announcement that Irish scientists hope will help to boost funding for basic scientific research in Ireland and open up new career paths for young Irish researchers.
“The atmosphere is just electric,” said Dr Patrick Kavanagh of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, who has spent weeks at Mission Control near Washington DC preparing the telescope for science observations. His wife, Dr Emma Whelan of Maynooth University, who is also working on Webb data, said the early results are “far exceeding expectations”.
“There are going to be Nobel Prizes won out of this,” she added, quoting mission managers.
“The dam is about to burst,” said Webb scientist Prof Mark McCaughrean of the European Space Agency.
“Remember, these first science views are from only five days of data: every five days we will be getting the same amount again”.
Mission managers hope the telescope will operate for at least 20 years.
The telescope will use a technique called stellar spectroscopy — pioneered more than a century ago by the great Irish astronomer Margaret Huggins — to search for signs of life in the atmospheres of planets circling distant stars (exoplanets). The announcement will include the first analysis of an exoplanet’s atmosphere, although the planet is likely too large and too close to its parent star to harbour life.
But the “stars” of the show will be the galaxies and the vast gas clouds called nebulae that Webb has photographed in these first five days of operation. Former astronaut and now NASA’s deputy administrator, Pam Melroy, said the images "moved me, as a scientist, as an engineer, and as a human being."
The picture that appears to have most astonished the small group who have seen it already is an image of a massive galaxy cluster called SMACS 0723, which can act as a so-called gravitational lens to help scientists see much deeper into space and observe fainter galaxies. This will be a first attempt to see far back in time to watch galaxies forming shortly after the Big Bang.
Another eye-popping picture will be of the "cosmic smoke ring" left by an exploded star called the Southern Ring Nebula, and the Carina Nebula, one of the largest and brightest nebulae in the sky, located approximately 7,600 light-years away but never visible from Ireland. “Stephan's Quintet”, another target for release tomorrow, is a group of galaxies that seem to be dancing around each other and is a favourite observation for experienced amateur astronomers in Ireland.
Many Irish astrophysicists will spend much of their professional lives working with data from the Webb telescope, now that it is operational.
Dr Kavanagh at the Institute for Advanced Studies says: “It is the sheer scientific potential that I find most exciting”.
He will soon begin observing what is left of a supernova that was seen exploding on February 23, 1987, making headline news around the world. SN1987a is 168,000 light-years away from us, so the light left about the same time early humans first left Africa.
Dr Kavanagh’s wife, Dr Whelan, will be studying how stars form within the beautiful nebulae that will be revealed, and she has several PhD students working with her.
“Some of the brightest students in Ireland today are studying astrophysics, which is not as surprising as it might seem,” she says.
“Many of our students don’t actually go on to work in astronomy – the big technology companies can’t get enough of them because they are so flexible and can work on any problem”.
“Under current funding models, it is a real challenge to get consistent funding,” she adds.
“You need to show how it may create jobs and that it has industrial applications, whereas the value of pure research lies in the potential for discovery and the stimulation of further innovation. I hope the excitement of [the] announcement will encourage people to think about these issues, which are important for Ireland in the future”.
