Telescope James Webb will search for alien life

NASA scientists will use the James Webb space telescope to study 'ocean worlds' - moons of Jupiter and Saturn - with infrared features to gather data to help with missions that lead to those places in the future.

The James Webb Space Telescope is a complement to NASA's Hubble telescope, and the most powerful space telescope ever built. The NASA space agency has announced that this glass will be used to study ocean worlds - Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's Enceladus.

One of the scientific objectives of this telescope is to study planets that can assist in exploring the origin of life.

Telescope James Webb is the most powerful space telescope ever built.

Scientists are particularly interested in the steam columns erupting on the surface of Enceladus and Europa - they are a mixture of steam and simple organic substances. While some of the chemicals found in these steam columns may be indicative of bacterial life, experts say they may also be the result of geological processes.

Earlier evidence gathered by NASA's Cassini –Huygens and Galileo missions shows that these steam columns are the result of geological activities that are heating underground oceans.

Heidi Hammel, an astronomer and vice president of the Astronomical Research Association of Universities (AURA). They said they chose these two moons because 'they have many potentials to show remarkable signs of cosmological biology'.

Hammel is also in the same research group on the James Webb glass project with Geronimo Villanueva - a planetary scientist of the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.

The team used the telescope's camera to capture high-resolution images of Europa to study the surface and look for high-temperature surface areas with steam spray and so on. geological course.

When a steam column is positioned, they will use near infrared spectroscopy (NIRSPec) other devices to analyze the structure of the spectral composition.

Are they made from frozen water? Will hot steam escape? What is the temperature in the operating areas and the steam sprayed out? The measurements of James Webb glasses will allow us to solve these questions in the most accurate way ever. ' - says Villanueva.

James Webb Space Telescope.

Enceladus is nearly 10 times smaller than Europa, so it won't be possible to get high-resolution images of its surface, but the James Webb glass will still be able to analyze the molecular structure of steam columns. on this moon and conduct analysis of its surface characteristics. The topography of the moon was mapped by NASA's Cassini orbiter, Cassini spent about 13 years studying Saturn and its moons.

The team said they plan to use NIRSPEc to study organic signs, such as methane, methanol and ethane in the steam columns of both moons if they spit out in time.