ADRIJA SEN
July 27, 2022
If planets being born in knots of dust, galaxies crashing, and light from the universe’s most distant stars from eons ago sound fascinating to you, you are not alone!
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For years, humans have wondered about our place in the universe. In a quest to answer those questions, we have gone over and beyond to reach a definite conclusion. Space Telescopes are one of the things that we have invented, driven by our thirst for knowledge of the stars.
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The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) started its journey last year. It was a joint effort between the American, European and Canadian space agencies, led by NASA. With its 6.5m-wide golden mirror and super-sensitive infrared instruments, JWST is able to capture a lot more than before.
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JWST views light on an infrared spectrum, which allows the instrument to see the universe more clearly. Infrared light has longer wavelengths than visible light, so it can slip through cosmic clouds without colliding or getting scattered by densely-packed particles.
Image source: NASA
The Universe is about 13.8 billion years old, and the images captured by the JWST are glimpses of the procedures that created stars and planets long before human existence! This means Webb's infrared eyesight can penetrate places that other telescopes can't, and we can look further back in time than ever before.
Image source: NASA
The Hubble Space Telescope delivered us wonder, beauty and mysteries from the grander outer universe for more than 25 years. Launched on April 24, 1990, Hubble sent to Earth spinning pictures of light in the universe and transformed our understanding of our cosmos.
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Hubble observes visible light and has more than 1.5 million records. It is still on its mission above the Earth’s surface, free of light distortion and other blocking effects from our atmosphere. It continues to send home data revealing the universe to us.
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Hubble is 13.2 meters wide with a maximum diameter of 4.2 meters. On Earth, it would weigh 11,110 kilograms. It’s located about 547 km above the Earth's surface, where it completes 15 orbits per day, approximately one every 95 minutes.
Image source: NASA
Launched in 2003, the Spitzer Space Telescope was one of NASA's four Great Observatories. The program illustrated how each one observes the Universe in a different kind of light.
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While Hubble observes visible light, Spitzer and James Webb use infrared light to view the universe. Carrying the Cryogenic Telescope Assembly that held the 85-centimetre telescope and three scientific instruments, Spitzer was built to last for a minimum of two and a half years.
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But the Spitzer mission lasted almost six years in the “cold” phase until it ran out of coolant, beginning its “warm” phase in 2016 called the "Spitzer Beyond." In May 2019, NASA announced Spitzer would retire on January 30, 2020, by completing its final assignment, “Spitzer Final Voyage.”
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