The Galician astrophysicist Begoña Vila, one of those responsible for the instruments of the 'James Webb' space telescope. BV
A few days ago, in a hangar about a half hour drive from the White House, something happened that will never happen on Earth again. A spectacular apparatus the size of a football field began to spread its wings for the last time. He unfolded 18 gold-coated hexagonal mirrors that spread out like the eye of a huge fly. It is the
James Webb
space telescope
, the largest and most accurate in history. Gold has a meaning: this will be an observatory specialized in capturing infrared light, below the visible spectrum, and this element increases the sensitivity of its mirrors.
This telescope will be the first to see one of the most exciting moments in the history of the universe: the birth of light. 13.7 billion years ago the
Big Bang
was the explosion with which the history of the cosmos began. If someone had been there - something totally impossible as will be seen below - they would not have seen anything. Back then there were no atoms or light, just total and utter darkness. It took about 200 million years for the cosmos to emerge from the dark age. The first stars and the first galaxies were born, objects so distant that until now it has been impossible to observe them with terrestrial or space telescopes. They are like the monsters that were drawn centuries ago on the part of the maps that described totally unknown areas. The
James Webb
It will be the first human instrument capable of showing us what those first galaxies and stars were like, which contributed the elements of which all humans are made and the rest of the things we know.
The day the
James Webb
spread its wings, an astrophysicist from Vigo watched the process closely from the other side of the glass in the clean room of NASA's Goddard Space Center.
It was Begoña Vila, the daughter of a housewife and a carpenter who has spent a quarter of her life dedicated to making this telescope come true.
Vila, 58, studied physics and chemistry in Santiago de Compostela and specialized first in observing the universe in visible light at the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias and later in radio light at the Jodrell Bank Telescope, a huge antenna created during World War II by the British Army reconverted to exploration of the cosmos.
He then began working for the Canadian Space Agency on the design of two of the
James Webb
instruments.
.
An operator examines part of the mirrors of the 'James Webb' space telescope.NASA
The development of this telescope has been one of the longest and most expensive odysseys in science.
Its initial cost of less than $ 1 billion has been inflated to $ 8 billion.
The European Space Agency also participates in it.
Its launch comes about 15 years later than planned.
But according to those responsible, this is a great time to go into space, because we now know many exoplanets the size of the Earth and in the habitable zone that can be explored in detail in search of traces of life.
After launch, scheduled for October 31, the
James Webb will
travel a million and a half kilometers to Lagrange point two, a region of space where the gravity of the Earth and the Sun balance allowing an object to stay in one fixed position in relation to those two bodies. There you will have a totally clear view of the universe.
Vila has been the supervisor of the tests of all the instruments in a huge room that simulates the very low temperatures of the space in which the telescope will be.
Once the
James Webb
reaches its destination, it
will spend four months preparing all its instruments and Vila will be one of the leaders of all those tests.
In this internet interview, astrophysics explains what the greatest discoveries of this huge science machine may be.
Question
.
What things will this telescope see for the first time?
Answer
.
This telescope is about three stories high and is as big as a tennis court.
It will be twice as large as the previous one,
Hubble
, and it will allow us to look at the universe with new eyes.
One of the objectives of this telescope is to look back in time.
It is capable of capturing infrared light emitted billions of years ago by primordial light objects, the first stars to exist in the universe.
That light has been traveling for 13.5 billion years and the only way to see it is with an infrared detector.
P
.
Will you also be able to see the first galaxies?
R.
We know what our galaxy, the Milky Way, is like with a very neat and orderly spiral shape.
Earthlings live in one of the arms of this galaxy.
But if we look back in time, galaxies and early stars do not have the same shape.
This telescope is going to show us what the first star was like.
How was the first set of stars, that is, the first galaxy.
There are models that try to reconstruct what they would be like, but this telescope with its cameras will be the first to show how it all began and how we got to the universe like the current one.
View of the 'James Webb' space telescope with its mirrors fully deployed.
Q.
What else can you investigate?
A.
In the infrared range we can also explore the regions of space where the stars and planets around them form.
We are talking about the formation of solar systems, similar to ours or perhaps very different.
Thanks to previous telescopes we already have a long list of exoplanets around other stars that are very interesting, rocky worlds and the size of the Earth.
They are perhaps closer to their sun.
What this observatory is going to do is discover new planets in what we call the habitable zone [where there may be liquid water].
Since there is already a list of candidate planets, you will also be able to see the atmosphere of these planets.
We are going to look at the universe with different eyes
Q.
What will you look for in those atmospheres?
R.
Life markers.
For example if it has water or carbon dioxide.
That may indicate that there is life similar to what is on Earth.
It is one more step on our long journey to answer the question of whether we are alone in the universe.
Q.
How are the favorite planets to host life?
A.
One of the most prominent will be the Trappist solar system, which has several planets orbiting a star redder than the Sun. Until recently it was not known that these dwarf stars could have planets.
There are also goals to search for new planets in already known stars.
Q.
What do the models say about what the first stars were like?
A.
At the beginning of the universe there was only helium, hydrogen and a little deuterium. Nothing more. In those moments it was impossible for anything like the Earth or the Sun or ourselves to exist, because we must remember that we are made of stardust. Those first stars had to be made of these elements and we know that they are already dead, that they exploded many millions of years ago as supernovae. The only thing left of them is their past light, which keeps traveling towards us. Some of these stars were able to generate other elements of the periodic table that, when fired, enriched the next generation of stars. And so we evolved until we reached stars with a composition like the current one.
Q.
Could
James Webb
find a ninth planet in our Solar System Solar System a new planet?
A.
Yes, we could discover a ninth planet in the Solar System.
We will be able to study all the planets beyond Mars and its moons.
For example, we know that Jupiter and Saturn do not have life because they are gaseous planets, but some of their moons could.
They are bodies covered in ice but with liquid water underneath.
Maybe there is life there.
We also know that in the Solar System there are several asteroid belts and in part because of them poor Pluto stopped being a planet.
I believe that we will be able to characterize many of the objects in these asteroid belts, perhaps even a new planet.
Although this would perhaps bring us back to the discussion of whether it is an asteroid or a planet.
Life is likely on other planets
Q.
Are there more scientific targets?
A.
There are kites.
Or the threat of a dangerous asteroid coming towards Earth.
James Webb will
also be able to observe a certain point in space very quickly in case of an alert.
For example, if there is a supernova in a galaxy or an unknown comet is approaching, we will be able to observe it in an emergency.
Q.
If an asteroid capable of extinguishing life comes, will we see it?
A.
Yes. But it would have to be an object that has been very far away and that arrives with a trajectory that has prevented us from detecting it until now.
Q.
Do you think there is life on other planets, even civilizations that ask the same questions as us?
A.
Humans have always believed ourselves to be special. First the Earth was the center of the universe. When someone said that the Sun was the center, we punished him. Then we thought there was only one galaxy, ours. But there are millions. And there are billions of solar systems. Following this line I think there is probably life and it is amazing because it is very difficult for life to arise, even on our planet. It is a small probability, but since the universe is so great, I believe that there is life and at some point we will find it.
Q.
In the pages of this diary we have read the discoverer of the first exoplanet say that there is no place for God in the universe and also an astrophysicist and Protestant pastor who led the first image of the shadow of a black hole say that science is unable to answer the big questions about life, what do you think?
A.
Science can explain many things. The only limitation is that of our knowledge. In the Middle Ages hardly anyone understood eclipses. And some people used them to frighten and control the ignorant, people with magical thinking. That is why I believe that education is very important. It is what makes us human and improves us as a species. I was raised Catholic, although I do not practice. I think that spirituality is important and that it has many different forms. I think it makes us what we are in part. And I do not see these two worlds incompatible. You have to keep learning. We are a mass of cells but we have consciousness and from there spirituality also arises. There is a phrase that says "science teaches us how the heavens move but not how to go to heaven."
Q.
Of all the things that the
James Webb
can discover
, which one would you think is the most important?
A.
We all want a surprise.
There is an iconic photo from the
Hubble
Space
Telescope
showing the ultra-deep field.
Until this observatory looked at that tiny patch of space, our previous telescopes hadn't seen anything, it was completely empty.
The
Hubble
showed us that actually that small space there are thousands of galaxies.
It was a brutal surprise.
I think
James Webb
will be capable of the same.
Now we have many prejudices about physical phenomena and this instrument may allow us to eliminate them.
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