New telescope could change our understanding of the universe again
Our most amazing astronomical photos come from the Hubble Space Telescope. More than 30 years ago, Hubble launched into space to bring us these detailed photos that have changed our understanding of the universe. Hubble’s successor is the James Webb Space Telescope, now fully deployed. The JWST stands poised to change our perspective of the universe yet again.
The JWST may change our understanding of our place in the cosmos by studying extrasolar planets, planets orbiting other stars.
On Earth, plants cover much of our land surface. NASA launched the Galileo mission to Jupiter in 1989. On the way to Jupiter, the spacecraft took a look back at Earth and detected our planet’s vegetation red edge (VRE) biosignature, the mixture of red and infrared light reflected by plants, a signal JWST could observe from exoplanets.
Any exoplanet that bears life will likely have large areas covered with forest- and prairie-like plants, just as on Earth. JWST possesses the capability to detect the VRE signal from such planets. While extensive plant cover won’t necessarily indicate the presence of intelligent life, it proves that life on those planets have evolved beyond the simple, single-celled forms that alone populated Earth for a billion years.
JWST’s detectors are sensitive enough to identify another tell-tale sign of life on alien planets. When a planet moves in front of its star, the starlight passing through the planet’s atmosphere, if it has one, allows the telescope to determine what gasses make up that atmosphere.
Oxygen is a very reactive element. It is easily used up in chemical processes, such as combining with iron-bearing rock to turn it red, which is common on Earth. Our planet maintains a large supply of oxygen in our atmosphere because it is constantly replenished by photosynthesizing plants.
Methane is also a gas that can’t remain long in a planet’s atmosphere. On Earth, many forms of life give off methane. Think of cows burping. So, if a planet has a steady supply of methane in its atmosphere that likely indicates the presence of life.
JWST’s greatest contribution to our understanding of the universe will undoubtedly come from detailed images of astronomical objects and phenomenon, just as with Hubble. But finding proof of extraterrestrial life may well be the most exciting discovery made by the James Webb Space Telescope.
At 9:27 p.m. May 15, the full moon enters Earth’s shadow, creating a total lunar eclipse. The moon sits fully within our shadow from 10:29 to 11:53 p.m. and is fully emerged by 12:55 a.m.
The Tau Herculid meteor shower peaks on the night of May 30-31. This is normally a mediocre shower at best, but this year might be different. This shower comes from the debris trail of comet 73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann. The comet broke into pieces recently and appears to be continuing to fall apart. Typically, this would create large numbers of debris particles along the comet’s path.
Our planet passes through the area of the comet’s orbit where there might be a lot of newly released cometary debris. If so, we should be in for a short but intense meteor shower, perhaps dozens of meteors per hour. If the weather is clear that night, you might want to take a peek in the morning hours between midnight and 6 a.m. It just might be worth losing a little sleep over.
Planet Visibility Report
As May begins, Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Saturn form a line stretching above the horizon in the pre-dawn sky. Mercury is the lone planet visible after sunset, although twilight will make it tough to see, and it dives quickly into the sun’s glare. Venus slowly creeps towards the sun in the morning sky while the others move farther from the sun, remaining visible in the morning sky before sunrise. Full moon occurs on May 15th during the lunar eclipse with new moon following on May 30th.