Are we capable of assimilating the infinity of the universe?

by time news

In 1609, Galileo Galilei made the first observations of the cosmos through telescopes that he built himself. In 2022, 413 years later, technology and science have made it possible to put the James Webb Space Telescope into orbit, the most powerful ever built. How far was Galileo able to observe and what are we capable of observing today? Will James Webb’s observations change the conception of the universe again, as Galileo’s did?

Discover for the first time the wonders of the Solar System

With just two simple lenses and inspired by an instrument built by the Dutch optician Hans Lippershey, Galileo Galilei assembled his first telescope in 1609. After several prototypes, he managed to achieve 20x magnification with a 1.27 meter long telescope. With it, he managed to observe in detail the Moon, the four largest satellites of Jupiter (Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callistus) that we know today as Galilean satellites, sunspots, and the Orion constellation, among other celestial objects. If Galileo discovered satellites orbiting planets in the Solar System, for the James Webb telescope the Solar System remains small, and he manages to extract data on the atmospheric composition of an exoplanet located almost 1,150 light years from Earth.

The annotations that Galileo made of the satellites of Jupiter (the little stars that can be seen in his notes) that he observed on different days. Illustration taken from the treatise Sidereus Nuncius, published by Galileo in 1610.

The Moon is imperfect and the Sun has spots

The Aristotelian doctrine dictated the existence of two spheres: the sublunar, where the Earth is, corruptible and changing, and the supralunar, where the Moon, the Sun and the stars are, perfect and imperturbable. Aristotle’s theory had lasted almost two millennia and was the basis of prevailing religious thought: the immaculate stars were creations of God. But in 1610 an event occurred that would change the understanding of the prevailing universe until then. Galileo, thanks to his telescopes, was able to observe the celestial vault as no one had done before, questioning Aristotle himself. He observed the lunar phases in detail, verifying that the Moon was not a perfect sphere but that it had craters and mountains, just like the Earth. He was also able to observe the Sun, taking advantage of sunsets and sunrises, and discovered dynamic and changing sunspots.

Lunar phases drawn by Galileo Galilei thanks to his observations. One of the most beautiful images in his book Sidereus nuncius, (known as Sidereal Messenger, and also under the meaning of Sidereal Message).

The Sun became the center of the universe

In addition to the Sun and the Moon, Galileo was able to observe other stars such as the planet Venus, which he discovered also had phases very similar to those of the Moon. This discovery led him to consider the theory proposed by the Prussian astronomer Nicolas Copernicus according to which the Sun represented the center of the Universe and not the Earth, as Ptolemy’s doctrine, established 15 centuries ago, claimed.

Galileo became a strong advocate and pedagogue of heliocentrism, which he himself had demonstrated experimentally by studying the orbits of some planets and the phases of Venus. Today we know that the Sun is only the center of a solar system among billions of systems similar to ours.

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The heliocentric theory greatly simplified the orbits of celestial objects, but these empirical discoveries were not well received by the Holy See, which ended up condemning Galileo to life imprisonment and to retract in public having proclaimed and taught them to his students. One of the most passionate legends in the history of astronomy tells that once he had recanted, he kicked the ground and exclaimed E pur si muove (and yet it moves), referring to the Earth.

The James Webb Space Telescope: The Infinity of the Deep Universe

More than four centuries later, science and technology have evolved so much that they have made it possible to build and send into space the James Webb telescope, the most powerful ever built. The main objective of the cosmic giant macro is to observe the formation of the first galaxies, stars and planets, etc., milestones that were beyond the reach of any human-made instrument to date.

The James Webb has a 6.5 meter diameter primary mirror that allows an angular resolution of 2.25·10-7 radians, which would be equivalent to distinguishing the millimeter divisions of a ruler located 4.44 km away. Also, unlike its predecessor, the Hubble Space Telescope, the James Webb operates at longer wavelengths (towards the infrared), allowing the observation and study of very old and very distant objects, with a high redshift. , without the disturbance that interstellar dust produces in the images captured by Hubble.

The first images shown by NASA have not left anyone indifferent. In them we can observe an area of ​​the cosmos belonging to deep space, never seen with such high resolution, where galaxies and stars can be observed that were, when they emitted the light that reaches us today, 13.5 billion light years away, or the Carina Nebula which, compared to the Hubble image, looks more radiant than ever.

Explain the origin of the universe and find life on other planets

The observation of the early universe, the formation of galaxies, stars, planets and their destruction, will help explain phenomena such as cosmic reionization, postulated but not fully demonstrated so far, or how the period of cosmic inflation (exponential expansion) occurred in the early stage of the universe. This information could explain how the observable was formed, what happened moments after the Big Bang, how everything began to exist.

The James Webb has also allowed us to observe thousands of galaxies behind other galaxies, increasingly distant from us in space and time, and nests of stars, of innumerable suns.

Obtaining by James Webb the chemical footprint of planets in other solar systems, which there are thousands of, could find the definitive mark of life beyond the tiny Solar System in which we move. Life on other planets, in the remote past of the cosmos. How will society experience this new knowledge? What will they mean for future humans? Will we be prepared?

The first images of James Webb are the beginning of a new era and we have the privilege of living it, of feeling a bit like Galileo.

* This article was originally published onThe Conversation.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Francisco Jose Torcal Milla

Associate Professor. Department of Applied Physics, University of Zaragoza

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