The pictures are just PR: the real achievement of the James Webb Telescope

Seeing distant galaxies with our eyes is spectacular, but that's not the point.

Here's what NASA's telescope has really contributed to science and space exploration

Yaniv Yair, in collaboration with "The Technology", the technology division of Bank Hapoalim

14/09/2022

Wednesday, September 14, 2022, 09:48

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The Carina Nebula, as recorded by the James Webb Telescope (Photo: NASA)

In the last few weeks, news has been published for the morning about the impressive and far-reaching achievements of the formidable "James Webb" space telescope, which was launched into space at the end of 2021, in the midst of Christmas.

Among the achievements: a high-quality scan of the planet Jupiter, spectacular energy ripples from dying stars billions of kilometers away from us, and up to Einstein's rings - a phenomenon in which the movement of light rays coming from a celestial sphere is disturbed by a particularly large mass, which the viewer recognizes as a ring of light.

James Webb, after whom the estimated $10 billion telescope is named, was an American aviator, educator and the second director of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration, also known as NASA.

There is no doubt that the images taken so far by the powerful instrument look like they were taken from the series "Star Trek".

The photos that were revealed to the public are real, of course, but were well edited, to illustrate the spectacular discoveries and documentation.

But they are only intended mainly for public relations.

James Webb has other far-reaching achievements from the last few weeks, during which he cruised in space between shots.

The information that came from the web, among other things, made it possible to place the Italian research satellite LASER-2 in orbit around the Earth.

It is a compressed ball of nickel alloy and other metals, in which dozens of reflectors are embedded - light reflectors built to return the beam exactly in the direction from which it came.

Using precise laser measurements of the satellite's position in relation to other planets such as the Earth, the scientists plan to investigate with greater precision the effects of the gravity of a large body - such as the Earth itself - on space-time, as well as on the gravity that outlines the satellite's orbit.

Already in the last century, the effect of gravity on speed in creating a different time dimension was known.

From the clock experiment (Haifley-Keating experiment) - in which clocks were sent into orbit around the earth in which time passed more slowly than clocks on earth and from movies we grew up on such as Back to the Future, The Flash and more - we learn about the significance of speed in order to create a black hole, through which , currently only in the movies, the heroes managed to move to another time dimension - to surf in time.

The observations of the distant galaxies are in terms of seeing and not touching - because of the great distance at the moment it is not possible to reach them, at least until we know for sure what the distance to them is, by using measurement satellites such as lars2.

At the same time, humanity will have to produce a really fast spaceship that can overcome effects such as gravity, the drag force of the atmosphere, temperature, and more.

And yes, she would also need to be able to return.

As for black holes, it is known that their center of gravity is so high that they swallow up what is around them.

Everything that enters them, is drawn to the center of gravity of the hole and disappears.

That is, in order for us to cross a black hole, move to another time dimension and surf through time as described in the movies, a long time will be required.

But at least we can look at the pictures.

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