Irish hands behind the world’s most powerful telescope

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We spoke to Professor Tom Ray of DIAS who helped build the infrared instrument on the James Webb, a telescope he believes can revolutionize the field of astrophysics.

On Christmas Eve 2021, the largest and most powerful space telescope ever built, the James Webb Space Telescope, will be launched into space to study the universe like never before. The key to his observations will be infrared technology developed with the help of scientists in Ireland.

Developed by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency, the telescope named after the former NASA administrator will succeed the agency’s flagship Hubble mission to observe some of the most distant objects in the universe. known.

The James Webb telescope is scheduled to launch on December 24 from the Guyana Space Center in South America. Once launched, it will begin its 10-year journey into space by observing the first stars, galaxies and nearby dust clouds to better understand how they formed.

Improved infrared technology, developed with the help of scientists from the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (DIAS), will allow James Webb to see deeper into the Hubble universe and help him identify and study the atmospheres of potentially habitable exoplanets. .

It ‘revolutionizes’ astrophysics

Unlike the Hubble telescope, which used near-UV, visible, and near-infrared spectra to make observations, James Webb will use a range of lower frequencies, from long-wavelength visible light to mid-infrared, to observe. “high redshift” objects that were too old and distant to be observed by Hubble.

“Essentially, the James Webb telescope will help us see further back in time than Hubble did due to the increased power and sensitivity provided by the updated infrared technology,” Professor Tom Ray, director of physics, told SiliconRepublic.com. cosmica at the DIAS.

Professor Tom Ray in front of the ALMA Space Telescope in the Atacama Desert, Chile. Image: DIAS

“The observations the telescope will collect will help scientists answer some of the big questions about the cosmos, such as: what did the early universe look like? How did the first galaxies evolve? And how and where are the stars and planets formed? “He said.

Ray is the principal co-investigator of the mid-infrared (MIRI) instrument on the telescope, which has a camera and spectrograph capable of observing mid- and long-infrared radiation. It also has a coronograph designed to block out a star’s light, which is useful when observing exoplanets.

“With the help of MIRI, the James Webb telescope will revolutionize the field of astrophysics. Ground-based telescopes cannot function with the same level of detail as telescopes in space because the atmosphere gets in the way, making the stars appear to be twinkling, ”he explained.

But to observe infrared without interference, the telescope will have to be in a very cold environment. For this it will be deployed in space near the Sun-Earth Lagrange point L2, almost four times the distance of the moon, which will keep it below -223 degrees Celsius.

Aside from the hardware contribution, DIAS scientists are also involved in the software aspect of things, making sure the scientific community can make the most of the data collected once the James Webb is in action.

Dr Patrick Kavanagh, software developer and member of the international MIRI team, will participate in commissioning the tool at the Webb Mission Operations Center in Baltimore, United States, early next year.

His role will involve analyzing and simplifying the large amounts of data that will be collected by the James Webb Telescope, which will help the DIAS and Irish scientists in their astrophysical research for years to come.

DIAS on the international stage

This is not the first time that DIAS collaborates primarily with NASA. While DIAS scientists have been working on the James Webb telescope for at least 15 years, the Dublin Institute has also been involved in the Apollo program, studying some of the earliest lunar rock samples.

“The fact that we have such a strong Irish involvement in this project is a testament to the platform DIAS holds on the international astronomy and astrophysics scene,” said Ray of the launch of James Webb.

DIAS is now collaborating with ESA on the Atmospheric Remote-Sensing Infrared Exoplanet Large-survey (ARIEL) telescope, helping to build key instruments. ARIEL aims to observe at least 1,000 known exoplanets, studying their chemical composition and thermal structures.

Numerous other national and international projects are in the works for the DIAS, but the long-awaited launch of the James Webb telescope and the key role of the DIAS in it will be a significant achievement for years to come.

Ray told SiliconRepublic.com that he has high expectations for the telescope and is excited to see what will come out of his space travel. “I’m 100% sure we’re going to say ‘what the hell is this?’ at some point as he looks through his lenses. “

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