How far away are the planets, asteroids, and comets in our solar system? Are there any planets, asteroids, or comets out there that we haven’t found yet? NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope is set to launch in 2018, and it will have the ability to find and study the mysterious orbital paths of unknown planets, asteroids, and comets. The telescope will be so powerful that it will allow us to see the asteroid belt as clearly as if it were right here on Earth!
What is the James Webb Space Telescope?
Launching in 2021, NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope will observe exoplanets and solar systems as they appear at their point of formation. It is an infrared telescope that will orbit Earth’s sun-Earth Lagrange 2 (L2) point, a gravitationally stable position between Earth and sun. When it launches, it will be able to detect objects 10 times fainter than its predecessor, Hubble. Its primary mission is to study how galaxies evolved from shortly after the Big Bang until now. It will also study how stars form and how planetary systems form around stars.
What will it be used for?
While NASA’s Hubble telescope has helped astronomers to study planets beyond our solar system and gather new insights about their sizes, masses, and atmospheric makeup, it can only gather information about them as they pass in front of stars—like Venus did to capture a first-of-its-kind photograph. In other words, Hubble can only measure a planet’s orbit when that planet is close to its host star. But with James Webb, astronomers will be able to observe many more transiting exoplanets from much farther away than ever before. By observing these orbits over time, scientists will be able to determine whether or not they are circular (as Earth’s is) or elliptical (like Jupiter’s). If a planet passes in front of multiple stars on its journey around its host star, researchers will also be able to calculate what kind of orbit it follows: inclined or retrograde.
Why do we need it?
Astronomers have found more than 4,000 planets orbiting other stars in our galaxy, but they’ve struggled to determine basic properties of these alien worlds. This is largely because existing telescopes can only analyze light from a planet’s host star. James Webb Space Telescope will be able to watch for telltale signs of reflected sunlight coming from an exoplanet and determine whether it really does orbit its star as predicted—or whether something else is going on.
How much does it cost?
About $8.7 billion. That’s a lot of money, but it still has to fit into NASA’s budget—and that means some tough decisions about where money should be allocated and what missions should be delayed or cancelled altogether. Still, when it launches in 2021, James Webb will provide breakthrough observations that are simply out of reach for telescopes on Earth.
What would happen if the project gets cancelled?
Bad news for outer space junkies! NASA is currently planning on developing a huge telescope with an aperture of 6.5 meters, which will be placed at L2 point of Sun-Earth system. This observatory, named as James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), is going to launch in 2018. In fact, it was supposed to have been launched from 2011 itself but was delayed due to budget cuts.
Is there a better alternative to NASA’s approach?
In 2008, NASA broke ground on a massive new space telescope that was to join its fleet of other telescopes (Hubble and Spitzer). This telescope had a big target: Jupiter. The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is a large infrared telescope with a mirror 6.5 meters in diameter, comparable to Hubble’s 2.4-meter mirror. It will be able to see deep into space, past our own galaxy into neighboring galaxies and billions of light years away into deep space.
