Today: NASA launches the largest and most advanced telescope in history
After more than 25 years of development: James Webb, NASA's most expensive engineering marvel, will be launched out of Earth.
In addition, he will try to find signs of life in other stars |
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Yinon Ben Shoshan
25/12/2021
Saturday, 25 December 2021, 12:03 Updated: 13:50
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After an investment of about $ 10 billion and planning and development of more than 25 years, James Webb - the largest and most advanced telescope ever built by mankind - will be launched into space today (Saturday). The launch will take place at 14:00 (Israel time) on the European Space Agency's Arian 5 rocket.
"Launching the Webb Telescope is a historic event an important and exciting community space scientists and lovers of space in the world", says D. "Adi Nino Greenberg, space scientists of the Israel Space Agency." This is a telescope in the most advanced in the world will be a breakthrough in the study of the early universe and its constituents primary ".
" Telescope Will lead to an innovative and technological leap that will help us discover more about ancient galaxies, exoplanets - planets outside our solar system and search for similar properties that exist on Earth. "For example, the composition of an atmosphere that could attest to the evolution of these planets and perhaps even find clues to life outside the solar system.", Added Dr. Greenberg.
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25 years of research and development.
James Webb Telescope (Photo: AP)
The capabilities of the James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to the old "Hubble", will enrich our world with observations of some of the most distant bodies in the universe, which cannot be observed with the existing means in space available to mankind.
Also, Webb will look further and further back in time to the formation of the universe and will also try to answer the question of the existence of extraterrestrial life.
The launch of the most expensive scientific device built in the current generation has been postponed 13 times - and took four times as long as the original design.
However, the investment is noticeable: the James Webb mirror consists of 18 honeycomb-shaped mirrors with a diameter of more than 6 meters, each of the smaller mirrors being made of pure gold-plated beryllium.
James Webb, named after the second director of the US Space Agency and the one who oversaw the Apollo project, will be located about a month and a half and a half km from Earth - at the Lagrange L2 point. This point is convenient for placing the telescope, The means of observation required for this observation must be cooled, and no force is required to remain stable between the earth and the sun.
Embark on a journey of one and a half million kilometers from Earth (Photo: AP)
As the Hubble Space Telescope approaches the end of its life and has become our primary evidence for the expansion of the universe, James Webb has been designed and opened specifically for infrared photography - so you can penetrate deeper through gas clouds and nebulae and reach the most distant stars in the universe.
However, the engineering marvel is also a huge risk: the location far from Earth does not allow the telescope to be repaired in the event of a malfunction - which could result in the complete loss of the project.
technology
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telescope
NASA
James Webb