Right now, in a far, far distant solar system, seven planets orbit a “red dwarf”.
Three of these exoplanets are close enough to their star that liquid water is present there. And one of them, “Trappist-1 f”, also has the right density. Could ocean waves lick the shores of this distant world, 40 light years from Earth?
“There is a good chance that this planet is rich in water”, enthuses René Doyon, physicist and specialist in exoplanets at the University of Montreal. “The only way to find out is to use Webb. ”
NASA PHOTO, VIA ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
NASA technicians lift the mirror of the James Webb Space Telescope using a crane at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
This “Webb” is NASA’s James-Webb space telescope, the product of more than twenty years of work, and 13 billion of investments, which should finally be launched this week. Mr. Doyon, principal investigator for the Canadian components of the telescope, and who has been involved in the project almost from the beginning, is impatient.
I wake up in the morning these days and I’m like, ‘wow, this is coming’.
Physicist René Doyon, Principal Investigator for the Canadian Components of the Webb Telescope
The Webb, equipped with two essential systems that were made in Canada, is the successor to the famous “Hubble” space telescope. But Webb will orbit much deeper in space – about 1.6 million kilometers from Earth, well beyond the Moon, which is between 350,000 and 400,000 km. The new telescope will also be 100 to a million times more sensitive than Hubble, Doyon said.
Webb is designed to unravel two great mysteries of the universe: the nature of the planets beyond our solar system, and what the oldest galaxies can teach us about the birth of the universe. Webb will be able to analyze the atmosphere of exoplanets and collect data on the galaxies where the “first lights” appeared 13.6 billion years ago.
The essential tools for this work: a fine guiding sensor, which allows the telescope to be surgically pointed towards the outer reaches of the universe, and a “near infrared imager and slitless spectrograph”, which helps analyze light. observed by the telescope. Both devices were designed and manufactured in Canada.
5% of observation time for Canada
“Every observation, every beautiful image will have been guided by Canada,” said Mr. Doyon with a touch of pride.
Canadians will have 5% of the observation time
Canada has been a part of Project Webb almost from the start, said Sarah Gallagher, science adviser at the Canadian Space Agency. At least half of the 600 scientists from the Canadian Astronomical Society participated and dozens of researchers and engineers are part of its design team.
Canada has spent nearly $ 200 million over the years, enough to allow Canadian researchers to obtain 5% of the telescope’s observation time. In addition to exoplanets and “early light” galaxies, Canadian researchers will use Webb to study, for example, asteroids and comets near Earth, or how stars affect the space around them in the far reaches of the galaxy. where new suns are born.
“Just being a partner in a big project like this benefits all of Canada,” said Mr.me Gallagher. “It gives us a place at the table of international collaborations. Our community of astronomers is recognized around the world, not least because we are partners in these new and truly exciting missions. ”
Launched by an Ariane 5 rocket
But first of all, Webb must be put into orbit. After its launch, scheduled for Friday from Kourou, in French Guiana – the European Space Agency is also a partner – the telescope must be deployed in space from the hold of an Ariane 5 rocket, like a gigantic remote-controlled origami.
NASA estimates that things could turn catastrophically wrong on at least 300 occasions during this delicate operation.
This deployment will take two weeks, and then it will take the telescope another two weeks to reach its orbit further into space. And another five months will pass as the telescope gradually “cools” down. Because Webb “sees” infrared radiation, felt on Earth in the form of heat. However, the telescope must itself reach a temperature of about -223 ° C before its own heat can interfere with the radiation it is to capture.
According to Mr. Doyon, the Earth should receive by June images that could stun the world, as did in 1990 the first images captured and transmitted by Hubble.
And the brand new telescope could scan the surroundings of this “New World” which haunts the imagination of Mr. Doyon: the exoplanet Trappist-1 f.
“It’s a perfect (solar) system,” he explained. “These exoplanets will be our main targets. Is there water, CO2, methane – the kind of molecules we need to live? It is a big step forward in this big goal: to find life “beyond our solar system.