Topic Reading-Vol.3552-1/1/2022
0422-27-5366
〒180-0006 東京都武蔵野市中町2-3-5 IIHA武蔵野1階
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Topic Reading-Vol.3552-1/1/2022
0422-27-5366
〒180-0006 東京都武蔵野市中町2-3-5 IIHA武蔵野1階
電話受付/月〜金 9:00-18:00
Topic Reading-Vol.3552-1/1/2022
Dear MEL Topic Readers,
James Webb Space Telescope lifts off on historic mission
Named after an architect of the Apollo Moon landings, the James Webb Space Telescope is the largest telescope ever launched into space. It departed on Christmas day last year and is on its way to the observing station some 1.5 million kilometers away from the Earth. Unlike the Hubble Space Telescope that orbits around the Earth, it will orbit the Sun. Webb’s 6.5-meter-wide golden mirror is three times wider than the one on Hubble but is 100 times more powerful to observe infrared signals of very distant objects. As you know, light travels at 300,000 kilometers per second. So, the Sun you see in the sky was the sun about eight minutes ago. If we could detect infrared signals in deep space where there is very little gravity, friction, magnetic, or atmospheric influence, we might be able to analyze what happened at the beginning of the universe like the Big Bang, which took place over 13 billion years ago. Also, Webb is expected to probe the atmospheres of distant planets that could be habitable for any lifeform. It is such an ambitious project that thousands of people worldwide have worked on over the last three decades.
If the world can work together and spend billions of dollars on a non-urgent project like this, why can’t we work on a more immediate problem like global warming?
Enjoy reading the article and learning about this new space exploration project on New Year’s Day.
https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-59782057
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