Reporting by XinZhiyuan
Edit: Peaches Small salted fish
Last night, after 25 years of research and development, the James Webb Space Telescope built for 10 billion US dollars finally lifted off! It will become the "second eye" of mankind, running 1.5 million kilometers away from the earth, not only to look up at the stars, but also to explore the essential connection between the mysterious universe and human civilization.
Where did the universe come from?
Regarding the ultimate question of the birth of the universe, human beings still have no definite answer...
Last night, the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope, which took 25 years to develop, finally lifted off!
Weber will fly over the moon's orbit to its destination, The Second Lagrange Point (L2), and run 1.5 million kilometers from Earth.
It will become the "second eye" of mankind, not only to look up at the stars, but also to explore the essential connection between the mysterious universe and human civilization.
In the vastness of the universe, human beings seem so small. From the moon to the earth, that is, the distance of light traveling for one second. The universe is 100 billion light-years away, but humanity has only passed 1 second.
To go further and to see deeper, apart from purity and curiosity, is premised on a greater reverence for the universe, for truth.
Look for the light that was the beginning of the Cosmic Explosion
In April 1990, hubble was successfully launched at the Kennedy Space Center, which has been observing space missions for more than 30 years, and has observed various cosmic wonders such as nebulae and black holes.
Today's Weber telescope holds a baton in hand, carrying the expectations of generations of astronomers to unravel the ultimate mystery of the universe and make a final sprint to the ultimate exploration of the universe.
The new generation of space telescopes takes its name from James Webb, NASA's second director, to commemorate his important contributions to the Apollo moon landing program.
Planning for the new space telescope began as early as 1989, and official work was carried out in 1996.
Although it took 25 years to develop, it took more than 30 years from the initial concept to the launch, so the Weber telescope is dubbed "Eelton" by many.
Weber is the first super infrared space telescope in history and the largest space telescope ever launched.
Its diameter reaches 6.5 meters and is made up of 18 hexagonal gilded wafers spliced together.
In contrast, Hubble has an aperture of 2.4 meters, so Hubble has a limited field of view, which was originally designed to observe visible light and ultraviolet light.
The Webb Space Telescope is said to have 100 times the space observation capability of the Hubble Space Telescope.
Hubble can observe light in the range of 90-2500 nm (ultraviolet - near-infrared light), while Weber has a greater coverage and can see light with a wavelength range of 600-28500 nm (visible light - mid-infrared light).
NASA also lists 4 categories of observations that the Webb Space Telescope can make a big splash:
The early universe, galactic history and evolution, star life cycles, and extraterrestrial planets.
It has been described as a "time machine" that will be used to recall the first galaxies born in the early universe more than 13.5 billion years ago.
Its goal is to unravel the mysteries of the universe such as supermassive black holes, distant alien worlds, star explosions, and dark matter.
The Webb Space Telescope may change the way we look at the universe. The Ohio State University study claims that within five years of going live, Weber will spot signs of extraterrestrial life in a distant world.
NASA is recruiting theology experts
NASA has long been looking for alien existence, and from time to time there is news of the discovery of some kind of UFO or other planetary creatures.
However, none of these claims can be confirmed.
Now, NASA intends to include some priests and theologians in its mission to search for aliens. These people will prepare humans for contact with aliens.
To that end, NASA hired 24 theologians to participate in a project conducted by its Center for Theological Research (CTI) at Princeton University in New Jersey.
It is worth mentioning that NASA provided a $1.1 million donation to the center in 2014.
In its statement, CTI was founded "to build bridges of understanding by bringing together theologians, scientists, scholars, etc., and informing the public of their thinking on global issues."
The goal of this project is to solve some of the problems that have always plagued human beings, such as, what is life? What does it mean to be alive? Where is the boundary between humans and aliens? How likely is it that other planets will have life?
According to the Times, Pastor Dr Andrew Davidson is a pastor and theologian at Cambridge University, holds a PhD in biochemistry from Oxford University, and is one of 24 engaged theologians.
Davidson shared in a blog post on the Cambridge University website that religious traditions will help humans determine whether life exists elsewhere.
Davidson will publish a book next year called Astrobiology and Christian Doctrine, in which he mentions that he believes we are getting closer to discovering life on other planets.
While research and surveys suggest that American Christians are unlikely to believe in life on other planets, Davidson is not the only "believer" who believes aliens are likely to exist.
Astronomer and physics professor Dulia de Mello says she has several seminary students in her class who often ask theoretical questions about whether intelligent life exists in the universe.
"If we are the product of God's creation, why can't God allow life on other planets to evolve as well?" In August, De Mello said in an interview with The Washington Post.
In 2008, the Vatican's chief astronomer also said that belief in God and "alien brothers" may have evolved faster than humans, and there is no conflict between the two.
However, not all theologians agree with the idea that there is life on other planets.
In 2008, when asked if there were aliens, Albert Moller, dean of Southern Baptist theological seminary, said, "The answer is no, those are just speculations."
"We have no reason to believe that there are other extraterrestrial beings. There is nothing in the Bible that says there can be no form of life anywhere. But we are told that the universe was created so that Jesus Christ on this planet could save sinful humanity in space, time, and history."
Look up at the stars and search for signals of higher life
What the future of the universe will be, humanity is still exploring.
In the eyes of astronomers, the earth is a stone more than 10,000 kilometers in size, and more than 6 billion of us live on this stone. Human beings have a history of millions of years, but until now, we humans have traveled the farthest place in the universe, which is the moon.
The moon is a small rock that is a second away from our earth, that is, the light. In the universe of 100 billion light-years, human beings have just traveled a distance of one second.
As just mentioned, the Weber Space Telescope, which will be used to review the first galaxies born in the early universe more than 13.5 billion years ago, will give a complete picture of the evolution of galaxies.
So, will it detect advanced life in the universe?
Currently, for some planets that obscure the parent star, Weber can capture the starlight of the parent star after being refracted by the planet's atmosphere.
Based on this information, astronomers can analyze the composition of planets' atmospheres in order to explore the possibility of extraterrestrial life.
In the vast universe, there are a total of 100 billion stars in the Milky Way alone, and it is estimated that there will be roughly 1 trillion planets in the Milky Way.
Assuming that one in every 100 million of these planets has advanced life, then there should be tens of thousands of alien planets in the Milky Way alone.
Faced with complex cosmic problems, many people hold different opinions.
Some people believe that human beings are the only intelligent life forms that exist in the universe, and we still have huge room for development in the future; others say that there are many dangerous unknown factors in the universe, and a little carelessness may lead to the demise of human beings.
Hawking warned humans that it would be better to avoid contact with aliens as much as possible, rather than to go as far as they are now to find them. Science fiction novels such as "The Three-Body Problem" are also a wake-up call to human beings.
Where are the boundaries of the universe? Are there aliens outside the solar system? The Weber Telescope is saddled with a heavy mission to answer these questions.
The "second eye" is certainly a milestone, but it is necessary to have reverence in the human heart to go further.
Resources:
https://www.google.com/amp/s/technotrenz.com/entertainment/nasa-has-hired-a-priest-to-help-humans-prepare-for-alien-encounters-1459279.html/amp
https://jwst.nasa.gov/content/webbLaunch/assets/documents/WebbMediaKit.pdf