4/19/2023 0 Comments Telescope glimpses freefloatingWebb may not be able to chase after these objects, but since it is in space, it has the advantage of Earth’s atmosphere staying out of the way. Whether that mission will ever leave the ground is questionable. While a mission to ‘Oumuamua might be possible, it will take 26 years to catch up with the strange projectile if it launches in 2028. ‘Oumuamua and Borisov were too faint for even the most advanced infrared instruments to get a close look at them before they zoomed away. Webb’s infrared spectroscopic vision will be able to beam back previously unattainable information on future interstellar objects, such as chemical signatures of ices and minerals, that could tell us more about the thing from outer outer space. What these particles are made of could tell us about its origins. Floating specks of dust around the object can emit infrared rays low in energy, and MIRI will be able to pick up on those. MIRI (Mid-Infrared Instrument) is equipped with a mercury-cadmium-telluride detector even colder than that at -446 degrees Fahrenheit. “The gold-coated NIRSpec grating splits the radiation into thousands of different wavelengths, each of which can be sensitive to a different molecular gas.” ![]() “The detector is cooled down to -398 F, allowing it to pick up vanishingly small amounts of infrared radiation,” Cordiner said. An extremely cold silicon-arsenic detector powers its infrared super-vision. Made of silicon carbide, they are built to withstand fluctuations in heat. Those NIRSPEC mirrors are extremely tough. Once Webb’s eye is on it, the telescope will use its NIRSPEC (Near-Infrared Spectrograph) and MIRI instruments to see everything it can. That needs to be determined before a space rock from some other star system whizzes by too fast. It is possible that a monster planet - side-eyeing Jupiter here - or freakish cosmic phenomenon could throw an interstellar object way off. If it has a hyperbolic orbit, or would have had one if it hadn’t run into some sort of intense gravitational influence once it reached the solar system, that means it came from beyond. ![]() The object’s trajectory will give away its orbit. These measurements will be submitted to the IAU Minor Planet Center and uploaded to a public database for further investigation. To be sure an object is interstellar, astronomers will need to take astrometric measurements with optical imaging over several nights, pointing out where an object is and how it is moving through space. “Previous infrared telescopes were not sensitive enough to detect such faint objects.” “The Webb telescope benefits from extremely sensitive, precision-engineered optics and detectors, optimized for picking up the faintest infrared signals possible,” he told SYFY WIRE. Martin Cordiner, principal investigator of NASA's Webb Target of Opportunity Program, believes we are entering a new era of observation. It has the ability to not only identify and image an object like Borisov or ‘Oumuamua (if one randomly comes around), but look into its chemical composition - which could reveal how it formed, where it comes from, and the conditions in that distant star system. That Webb’s vision is so powerful is an understatement.
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