WATERLOO REGION – Brian McNamara is waiting his turn to use the most advanced technology ever deployed by astronomers: the James Webb Space Telescope.
McNamara chairs the physics and astronomy department at the University of Waterloo, and later this year or early next year, he will use the space telescope to study the Phoenix galaxy cluster more closely.
The James Webb Space Telescope, abbreviated JWST, was launched on Christmas Day 2021 and the first images were released publicly on July 12th.
“The images left me breathless,” McNamara said.
His proposal to scrutinize the Phoenix galaxy cluster was accepted by NASA, which selects research projects from among the thousands it receives from astronomers around the world.
The Phoenix galaxy cluster contains the first confirmed supermassive black hole. The cluster is 5.7 billion light-years from Earth. A light year is a measure of distance: the distance light travels in a year, which is 9.5 trillion kilometers.
McNamara can barely wait his time on the space telescope. After seeing JWST images from a cluster of galaxies called Stephan’s Quintet, his enthusiasm for technology knows no bounds. The Stephan Quintet is a group of five galaxies in the constellation Pegasus.
“You can see the dust being extracted from galaxies, dust and gas,” McNamara said. “This is the raw material for creating new stars, and you can see the stars being created during this rather violent process.”
The JWST is one of humanity’s best moments, he added, requiring the cooperation of thousands of technicians and scientists and millions of taxpayers.
“It’s the kind of thing that unites us all,” McNamara said. “The division is just falling apart and that really shows what we can achieve.”
The JWST carries mission-critical technology manufactured in Cambridge by Honeywell Aerospace, formerly known as Com Dev International: camera, guidance system, image stabilizer and spectrometer.
The company won a NASA contract in 2004 and in 2012 delivered hardware and software for a spectrometer that collects and analyzes light in the infrared band. That light is so old, and has traveled so far, that the human eye cannot see it.
The spectrometer allows astronomers to know the atmosphere of distant planets. Each element absorbs light at specific wavelengths of this atom. When astronomers look at the spectrum of a distant star or galaxy, they can determine its composition from these wavelengths, allowing them to detect carbon, water, oxygen and nitrogen, or even signs of life. .
“Because taxpayers paid for it, this is our telescope, it’s the telescope of humanity,” McNamara said. “I think this is a success we can all be proud of.”
Mike Hudson, another UW astronomer, agrees on the importance of the JWST. “Upon entering further into the infrared spectrum we can see these very, very distant galaxies and remember that we are looking back in time,” Hudson said.
Wait for the JWST to see and photograph some of the oldest objects on the outer edges of the universe.
“So that’s really impressive: the ability to study these very early galaxies in detail, the speed with which they cluster, how many stars they’re forming, what their structure is, what kind of things they’re basically made of.” said Hudson.
It took a generation to design, fund, build and launch the JWST. Scientists around the world saw the launch of Christmas Day and shared their reactions and hopes on Twitter.
“Everyone followed the pitch and we all breathed a sigh of relief when it went smoothly and successfully,” Hudson said. “You always worry because there are moving parts in space and if something goes wrong it’s very difficult to fix.”
TO SHARE: