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Resource Guide The James Webb Space Telescope The James Webb Space Telescope A cosmic time machine, gazing into the past, seeing in a light invisible to human eyes. Join Academy-nominated for planets and possible signs of life around distant stars. filmmaker Nathaniel Kahn on “Into the Unknown: The James Webb Space Telescope” takes viewers on a 40-minute journey of discovery, via the story of Webb and the people behind the mission. On this journey, viewers experience the revolutionary technology of the Webb telescope through the eyes of the people involved in the project – from engineers in bunny suits and clean rooms, to astrophysicists speculating about what they hope to discover. These individuals, from diverse backgrounds, serve as guides to learning about Webb’s design, construction, and anticipated discoveries. a journey of discovery… THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE, scheduled to launch in 2018, is NASA’s next orbiting observatory and the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. Orbiting far beyond Earth’s moon, Webb will detect infrared radiation and be capable of seeing in that wavelength as well as Hubble sees in visible light. Scientists and engineers have been piecing Webb together, creating through cuttingedge technology, an observatory that not only withstands intense cold but uses it to its advantage; an observatory that folds up inside a rocket for launch and unfurls like a butterfly opening its wings upon nearing its orbit. “Into the Unknown,” a film by Nathaniel Kahn, was produced by Crazy Boat Pictures in association with the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) and the Northrop Grumman Foundation. The project includes a collection of freely available education materials produced by STScI’s Office of Public Outreach. These materials, outlined in this guide around two themes, are designed to bring the story of the Webb telescope and the insights of the film to students and educators across the nation. Images are screenshots from the film The James Webb Space Telescope will help reveal the answers to some of astronomy’s biggest mysteries. It will probe deeper into space and farther back in time than ever before, image the very first stars and galaxies in the universe, and search ONLINE ACTIVITY: SIMPLE PAPER MODEL OF THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE TELESCOPES FROM THE JAMES WEBB SPACE TELESCOPE LITHOGRAPH GROUND UP Introduce students to JWST while Features an artist’s illustration of the Trace the history of telescope reinforcing skills in modeling and scale. Webb telescope on the front and development – from Galileo’s first look informational text on the back. Includes at the stars to modern observatories. an inquiry-based activity sheet. Why Space Telescopes? From Earth, our vision of the heavens is blurred by an ocean of air that smears and scatters starlight. Space telescopes are above Earth’s atmosphere and help us see the universe more clearly. STAR WITNESS NEWS Standards-based, science-content readings for upper elementary and middle school students – available in web-based and hardcopy format. Accompanied by educator guides. Read an overview of the Webb telescope Get more information about Webb’s Learn about the role of space in “The James Webb Space Telescope: science objectives in “The James Webb telescopes in exoplanet discoveries in A Vision for the Future.” Space Telescope: Science on the Edge.” “20 Years of Exoplanets: The Search for Worlds Beyond.” COSMIC CONCEPTS BACKGROUND MATERIALS Learn about the electromagnetic The following resources provide additional background about space telescopes. They spectrum, infrared light, and space can be used as an information source for student questions, research projects, or to telescopes with this series of short, support review activities and group discussions. one-topic videos. Perfect for on-demand reference usage by all types of learners. “MinutePhysics: Why Do We Put “Hubble’s Universe Unfiltered: The Future Telescopes in Space?”: A short, of Space Astronomy”: Explains the need ELECTROMAGNETIC SPECTRUM animated feature developed by for a high-resolution, infrared observatory This video provides an overview MinutePhysics in collaboration with for studying the universe, and provides of the electromagnetic spectrum and STScI. It provides an overview of an overview of how Webb will extend highlights both visible and invisible the challenges presented by Earth’s Hubble’s scientific findings. wavelengths of light. atmosphere in studying the universe and the need for space telescopes in overcoming those challenges. INFRARED LIGHT This video illustrates how infrared observations have numerous applications in both astronomy and everyday life. ADVANTAGES OF SPACE TELESCOPES This video provides an overview of the advantages of space-based astronomy. Scale of the Universe The universe is unimaginably large STAR WITNESS NEWS: THE HUBBLE ULTRA DEEP FIELD Standards-based, science-content LITHOGRAPH readings for upper elementary and middle Features an image of the Hubble Ultra school students – available in web-based Deep Field – the deepest visible-light and hardcopy format. Accompanied by observation of the early universe – on the educator guides. front, and informational text on the back. • Discover the vastness of space Includes an inquiry-based activity sheet. and how galaxies change over time in “The Hubble Space Telescope: Time Machine to the Galaxies.” and unimaginably • Learn how astronomers are using the old. All of human “natural zoom lens” to search for galaxies history is but a tiny blip in the history of gravity of massive galaxy clusters as a near the dawn of time in “Frontier Fields: Hubble Goes Deep.” MULTIMEDIA: HUBBLE – THE INCREDIBLE TIME MACHINE Some of the Hubble Space Telescope’s most memorable images have been of the vastness of space and the early days of the universe. This video shows how the universe. Hubble has been able to give us a glimpse of a cosmos in its formative years with deep-field images. ONLINE ACTIVITY: HUBBLE DEEP FIELD ACADEMY Invites students to examine the Hubble Deep Field image and simulate the process used by astronomers to count, classify, and identify objects in the image. Students also estimate the objects’ distances from Earth. BACKGROUND MATERIALS The following resources provide additional background about the universe. They can be used as an information source for student questions, research projects, or to support review activities and group discussions. “Hubble’s Universe Unfiltered: Deep Universe”: Provides an overview of some of the most distant galaxies Hubble has ever seen, and explains why, when we look at the most distant objects in the universe, we are also seeing the cosmos’ earliest objects. “Hubble’s Views of the Deep Universe”: A retrospective of Hubble’s contributions to the investigation of the distant universe using images known as the deep fields. These deep fields have given astronomers unprecedented access to understanding Find resources like these, and more, at Amazing Space: amazingspace.org how galaxies form and develop over billions of years. “Edwin Hubble Expands Our View of the Amazing Space is an award-winning website that includes a comprehensive collection Universe”: A blog post that chronicles of standards-based science education materials – all with a new design and improved how astronomer Edwin Hubble helped navigation. The updated site is accessible from desktops and tablets. It also includes change our understanding of the universe integrated social media for sharing all of your favorite resources and activities. The film by proving the existence of other galaxies project webpage and interactive resource guide can be found at http://amazing-space- beyond our own Milky Way. stem.stsci.edu/jwst-film. MIRROR TYPE: Segmented parabolic reflector NUMBER OF MIRROR SEGMENTS: 18, made of beryllium and coated with a thin layer of gold MIRROR WIDTH: 21.6 feet (6.5 meters) at its widest point SUNSHIELD: Tennis-court-sized, protects Webb from light and heat from the sun and Earth SUNSHIELD SIZE: 70 by 48 feet (21.2 by 14.6 meters) OPERATING TEMPERATURE: –387.7 degrees Fahrenheit (40 Kelvins; –233.2 degrees Celsius) PLANNED LAUNCH: 2018 via an Ariane 5 rocket, provided by the European Space Agency LAUNCH SITE: The Centre Spatial Guyanais (CSG) in Kourou, French Guiana LOCATION: Orbiting the sun at about 940,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth at the Second Lagrange Point (L2) INSTRUMENTS: Webb will have four science instruments. The Near-Infrared Camera (NIRCam) and the Near-Infrared Spectrograph (NIRSpec) are two instruments that will detect near-infrared light. The Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) will observe mid-infrared light. The Fine Guidance Sensor/Near-Infrared Imager and Slitless Spectrograph (FGS and NIRISS) will help point the telescope and detect near-infrared light. Webb Telescope Quick Facts FAQs Space Telescopes with a 10-year goal. To also will closely examine com- will have a tennis court-sized insure the five-year mission, ets, which are made of mate- sunshield to protect it from NASA has engineered the rial left over from the forma- the infrared glow of the sun observatory so that all critical tion of the planets. Comets and Earth. subsystems have a backup are one possible supplier of or will degrade gracefully with the Earth’s water, seeding age. For instance, the Near- the planet with water vapor Infrared Camera has two through millions of impacts identical camera systems so over billions of years. Webb that the optical quality can be will help confirm or dismiss maintained even if one fails. this theory by examining Webb will also contain maneuvers. As with Hubble, Chandra, and Spitzer, the Space Telescope? Webb science and operations The James Webb Space center has the ability to Telescope (JWST) is an orbit- change the operations of the ing telescope that will collect observatory to maximize its infrared light from celestial scientific potential as it ages. objects. JWST is the scienSpace Telescope. Unlike What are some things the Hubble, JWST will be placed Webb telescope will study approximately 940,000 miles or observe? (1.5 million kilometers) from Webb will look for the first Earth and cannot be serviced galaxies, study star birth and by astronauts. planet formation, and look for other planets that might harbor life. It is also expected What is the Hubble Space that Webb will be used to Telescope? make discoveries in the area The Hubble Space Telescope of stellar evolution by detect- is an orbiting telescope that ing “failed stars” called brown collects light from celestial dwarfs and increase our objects in visible, near- understanding of star-forming ultraviolet, and near-infrared regions in other galaxies. wavelengths. The telescope’s Webb will investigate the primary mirror is 2.4 meters (8 nature of Jupiter-like planets feet) wide. It orbits the Earth in other solar systems to help about every 96 minutes and is astronomers determine how powered by sunlight collected their formation might affect with its two solar arrays. the creation of rocky planets like Earth. serviced like Hubble? At its distant orbit, Webb is much too far from Earth to be serviced. Webb’s science mission length is five years Why are telescopes placed in space? Space telescopes can see objects more clearly because they are above the blurring effect of Earth’s atmosphere. Earth’s atmosphere allows visible light and radio waves tific successor to the Hubble light, which is blurred by Earth’s atmosphere, infrared light is absorbed by many of the components of Earth’s atmosphere, so it never reaches the ground. Water vapor, in particular, absorbs many wavelengths of infra- enough fuel for 10 years of What is the James Webb Can the Webb telescope be comets’ composition. Also, in contrast to visible to pass through but blocks out most other radiation, including X-rays and gamma rays. Radiation, such as that red light. An astronomer, for example, would have a hard time using a ground-based infrared telescope to search for water vapor (an indication of habitability) in the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet. Most of the infrared light from that planet would not reach the telescope because the water vapor in Earth’s atmosphere would absorb it. from infrared or ultraviolet rays, is partially blocked. By placing telescopes in space, astronomy is free of the distorting and shielding effects of the Earth’s atmosphere. Why do astronomers need infrared telescopes? An infrared telescope can allow astronomers to look back at the very early universe, when the first galaxies formed. Those Why are infrared telescopes placed in space? Although there are many infrared telescopes on Earth, the best place to do infrared astronomy is in space. Earth’s atmosphere glows brightly in infrared light, making it difficult to accurately measure light from faint Closer to home, Webb will celestial infrared objects. So study the atmospheres of an infrared telescope needs solar system planets such to be as far away from Earth as Mars. The telescope will as possible and shielded from observe moons, including Ti- Earth’s glow. The James tan, to analyze their chemical Webb Space Telescope will makeup. The Webb telescope be placed at the L2 point and galaxies can only be seen in infrared light. Infrared light also can be used to look through dust to discover objects that cannot be seen in visible light. For example, infrared light allows astronomers to peer into clouds surrounding new stars to find emerging planets. An infrared telescope also may allow astronomers to look at the atmosphere of planets to detect the gases (carbon dioxide, methane, and water vapor) that signal the possibility of life. Light & Color What is the electromagnetic spectrum? The electromagnetic spectrum consists of the entire range of wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation, or frequency of light coming light-years away. This is the gather as much light as pos- from objects in the universe, extent of the “observable uni- sible. Objects can be very far we can learn something verse,” but the entire universe away and appear faint to us about their nature. Since we is probably much larger. It due to the vast distances over are not able to travel to a could even extend infinitely in which the light must travel, star or take samples from a all directions. and/or objects can lie close galaxy, we must depend on to us and be faint because they don’t give off much light. electromagnetic radiation to carry information to us from In what sense is the So “deep” doesn’t neces- distant objects in space. universe expanding? sarily mean far. However, in microwaves, infrared light, We live in an expanding uni- the case of the Hubble Deep visible light, ultraviolet verse. All of the galaxies (vast Fields (HDFs) and the Hubble collections of stars similar to, Ultra Deep Field (HUDF), deep but outside of, our own Milky does mean far away because Way galaxy) that populate the images were taken in the universe – including our areas that we know have few Milky Way – are moving away nearby stars. including radio waves, light, X-rays, and gamma rays. It is a continuum of The Universe wavelengths from zero to infinity. We name regions of the spectrum rather arbitrarily, but the names give us a general sense of the energy; for example, ultraviolet light has shorter wavelengths than radio light. The only region in the entire electromagnetic spectrum that our eyes are sensitive to is the visible region. How old is the universe? The best available information indicates that the age of the universe is about 13.8 billion years. Hubble has helped to measure the age of the universe using two different methods. The first method involves measuring the speeds and distances of galaxies. Because all of the galaxies in the universe are generally moving apart, we from each other. How quickly galaxies move away from one another depends on their Why do astronomers study relative distance. From our distant galaxies if they are viewpoint, the farther away faint and difficult to ob- another galaxy is, the faster it serve? moves away from us. This is When we study astronomical called the Hubble Law (after objects, we are actually look- the American astronomer Ed- ing back in time. Light from win Hubble, who discovered the sun takes eight minutes the cosmic expansion in the to reach Earth. The light we late 1920s from the 100-inch see today from the next near- Hooker Telescope on Mount est star was emitted about Wilson near Pasadena, CA). four years ago. Light from the What is infrared light? infer that they must all have Infrared light is the part of been much closer together the electromagnetic spectrum sometime in the past. that has slightly lower energy Knowing the current speeds than visible light, but is not and distances to galaxies, Although we see galaxies visible to the human eye. coupled with the rate at which moving away from us in all Just as there are low-pitched the universe is accelerating, directions, this does not sounds that cannot be heard, allows us to calculate how mean that our galaxy is in there is low-energy light long it took for them to reach the center of some sort of that cannot be seen. Some their current locations. The explosion; observers in other infrared light can be detected second method involves galaxies would see the same as the heat from a fire or a measuring the ages of the thing. It only means that the light bulb. oldest star clusters. space between all galaxies is growing larger. How big is the universe? What information can light reveal about the universe and celestial objects? Electromagnetic radiation, or light, is a form of energy. Visible light is a narrow range of wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum. By measuring the wavelength We can observe only a portion of the entire universe. Because the universe is only about 13.8 billion years old, light has only had that many years to travel through it. Therefore, the most distant regions of the universe we can see are about 13.8 billion nearest galaxy, like Andromeda, takes over 2 million years to reach us. That is, we see Andromeda as it appeared more than 2 million years ago. Observations of distant galaxies show us what the universe looked like at an earlier time in the history of the universe. By studying the properties of galaxies at different epochs, we can map the evolution of What is a deep field? In astronomical terms, a deep field is a long-exposure observation taken to view very faint objects. Light from these objects is collected over a large period of time, so the detectors have a chance to the universe. We are the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), established by NASA to operate the Hubble Space Telescope and Hubble’s successor, the James Webb Space Telescope. We are part of AURA, the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, a research consortium that also operates Kitt Peak National Observatory, Cerro Tololo Inter-American Observatory, and the Gemini Observatories. STScI’s Office of Public Outreach supports outreach events as well as produces news releases, websites, and products and programs for the education community, such as the ones listed in this guide. To access these resources and more, visit: Amazing Space: http://amazingspace.org HubbleSite: http://hubblesite.org James Webb Space Telescope: http://webbtelescope.org “Into the Unknown: The James Webb Space Telescope,” a film by Nathaniel Kahn, was produced by Crazy Boat Pictures in association with the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) and the Northrop Grumman Foundation. Space Telescope Education Program Promoting the science and majestic beauty of the universe to the education community. Space Telescope Science Institute 3700 San Martin Drive Baltimore, MD 21218 Tel: 410 -338- 4700 Fax: 410 -338- 4579 email: [email protected]