Orbiting the sun nearly 1 million miles from Earth, the James Webb Space Telescope is reshaping the way scientists understand the universe and its origins, a number of astronomers said at a Vatican-sponsored meeting.
“The telescope is able to see things that prior telescopes just could not see,” Jonathan Lunine, a professor of astronomy and department chair at Cornell University, told Catholic News Service on 28th February. It has such unprecedented power in terms of its sensitivity, wavelength range and image sharpness that it is “doing revolutionary things” and leading to exciting new discoveries in multiple fields, he said.
Lunine, who is a planetary scientist and physicist, was one of nearly 50 experts in the field of astronomy attending a workshop organised by the Pontifical Academy of Sciences to discuss the newest results from the Webb telescope between 27th-29th February.
Launched on 25th December 2021, NASA’s latest space science observatory is the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built. It began sending full-color images and data back to Earth after it became fully operational in July 2022.
NASA said on its Webb.nasa.gov page: “Telescopes show us how things were-not how they are right now,” which helps humanity “understand the origins of the universe.” “Webb is so sensitive it could theoretically detect the heat signature of a bumblebee at the distance of the Moon,” it said.
Picture: An image taken with the near-infrared camera from NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope shows the Ring Nebula, 21st August 2023. (CNS photo/courtesy ESA/Webb, NASA, CSA, M. Barlow, N. Cox, R. Wesson)