UT makes list to use NASA telescope
Astronomers will be among first to be given access
University of Texas astronomers will be among the first in the world to use NASA’s brand-new $8.8 billion telescope after it launches in 2019 — a piece of technology one says will “revolutionize all areas of astronomy.”
The James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, has been under development for decades.
And with less than two years until its expected launch date, the Baltimore-based Space Telescope Science Institute, the science operations center for the Hubble and Webb telescopes, has released the list of the first 13 projects that will test the telescope in space.
UT-Austin’s Steve Finkelstein found himself, and his Cosmic Evolution Early Release Science Survey, on that list.
“This will be the first time anyone has had access to this brand-new telescope that is in some ways 100 times better than Hubble,” said Finkelstein, an associate professor of astronomy at the university. “This telescope will
reveal enormous truths the moment we turn it on.”
The CEERS will build upon Finkelstein’s previous work with the Hubble telescope of examining the oldest galaxies in the universe as a way to understand how quickly stars formed into the galaxies and how they evolve overtime. More than 100 astronomers from 10 countries are involved in the project, including scientists at Texas A&M.
Finkelstein said the Webb telescope will allow researchers to see galaxies as they existed 13.4 billion years ago. His project will take place in the telescope’s first five months of science operations, likely to begin in late fall or early winter 2019.
“To be among the first to use it is incredible,” he said, adding that his research will take 62 hours to complete.
Some of the other projects chosen include an examination of Jupiter and its moons, and weighing supermassive black holes, according to NASA. UT Austin researchers are involved to some degree in five of the 13 projects.
“We were impressed by the high quality of the proposals received,” said Ken Sembach, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, in a Nov. 13 NASA web update. “These observing programs not only will generate great science, but also will be a unique resource for demonstrating the investigative capabilities of this extraordinary observatory to the worldwide scientific community.”
Projects will receive federal funding, but Finkelstein said they have not yet been told how much. Up to $5 million has been allotted for all 13 projects, he added.
Webb is projected to launch in spring 2019 from Kourou, French Guiana, and is expected to carry out its mission for five to 10 years. The telescope is named after James E. Webb, NASA’s second administrator who led the Apollo space missions that landed the first humans on the moon.
Unlike Hubble, which launched 27 years ago and orbits the Earth, Webb will orbit the sun 1 million miles away from Earth. Hubble mainly observes visible light, while Webb will operate in the infrared, enabling it to study some of the faintest, youngest galaxies.
Using Webb, “we will discover the most distant galaxies ever seen — galaxies that were literally invisible to Hubble,” Finkelstein said.
This month, about 100 days of cryogenic testing — to ensure the telescope functions as intended in an extreme cold and airless environment — was completed at Johnson Space Center.
But the telescope still must undergo more testing before it can be launched into space. It now will be transported to Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in Redondo Beach, Calif., where it “will be integrated with the spacecraft element,” according to a Nov. 20 NASA web update.
It will then undergo even more testing “before flight and deployment testing on the whole observatory,” the update states.
The Webb telescope is an international project lead by NASA in partnership with the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.